Can't Find CHAdeMO Charging Port Lever

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Formarkvisi

New member
Joined
Jul 11, 2019
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3
I bought a 2012 ES i-miev hatchback from my Mitsubishi dealer a few months ago. Recently I have a need for the fast charging feature which the dealership assured me it had when I bought. I seem to remember the dealer fast charging it (level III charging) when I had it serviced. Also, I think I may have opened up the CHAdeMO charging port door before but I don't remember how. I have looked at the owner's manual for the location of the lever and also watched this video to make sure I was looking in the right place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flEu77Nqg6Q

Sure enough when I look for the lever, it's not there. I think it may not have the quick charge package?

I looked at this page:
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3228
which says:
EDIT 6/6/17: It is significant to note that CHAdeMO-equipped battery packs have forced-air cooling capability (which non-CHAdeMO cars do not have), which normally kicks in for maybe 2/3 of a CHAdeMO charging session. Some owners have modified their a/c ducting to force-feed cooled air into the pack. One can quickly tell if a car's battery has this forced-air cooling because of the relatively-loud blower noise which lasts for about a second when the car's J1772 plug is first inserted

My i-miev makes a loud blower noise when I insert the J1772 plug. So according to this, it has forced-air cooling and is CHAdeMO-equipped. I have searched around the car for the lever for at least an hour total and cannot find one. The dealership which sold me the car recently closed down permanently so I'm not able to call back and ask if it is CHAdeMO-equipped. Any advice? Could it possibly be opened any different way besides a lever on the driver's side or was I scammed? Any help would be appreciated.
 
The CHAdeMO port is in the left rear quarter panel. The operating lever you don't have is under the left side of the drivers seat. Don't let the "purge" fan noise fool you into thinking you have the QC option. This fan is on all vehicles. I've never understood the reason for that fan as it is trying to exhaust air out of the top of a closed box on vehicles without QC. To be sure, check on the left side of the battery pack. QC cars have two large orange cables coming from the pack, going back down the frame and up to the port in the left rear quarter panel. Also, QC cars (or cars with the cold weather package) have a duct coming from the heater and going to the passenger side floor under the carpet. If you have this duct and not the orange cables you have only the cold weather package and no QC. BTW, the cable for opening the QC charge port is on all I-MiEV's. It is just tucked away under the rear body trim. You can locate the cable and pull on the end to open the door to revel the hole where the CHAdeMO port would be.
 
To specifically answer the question, in North American i-MiEVs the lever is located on the floor underneath the left rail of the driver's seat at the forward end, IF the vehicle is equipped with CHAdeMO.

siai47, thanks for keeping an eye on us and continuing to contribute. Some history on this forum: it was siai47 who discovered that some i-MiEVs do not have the WHOOSH when J1772 is plugged in while others do - and he subsequently did some serious i-MiEV teardowns, transplants, and modifications, including using a higher-power 240vac charger attached directly to the CHAdeMO HV lines..

I thought the conclusion was that the cars that go WHOOSH do have CHAdeMO and those that don't do not.

Edit: I didn't think that any Mitsubishi dealer ever invested in a CHAdeMO charging station. Formarkvisi, whereabouts are you located?

Another Edit: Quick way to find out what equipment your car came with is to enter the car's VIN into the Mitsu website. Just replace the VIN in this link with your car's:
https://www.mitsubishicars.com/rs/file/monroney?vin=JA3215H16CU018997
 
To clarify, cars that go "woosh" could have either CHAdeMO or the cold weather package. Cold weather gets you all the stuff to heat the battery with the vehicle heater (or to cool it if you do the mod). All cars have the blower in the battery container but it doesn't seem to be used for anything. Sort of like the pump that cools the motor, inverter and charger/DC converter by running coolant up through the radiator and then doesn't ever turn on the radiator fan to actually cool the coolant. :eek:
 
If you don't have the DCQC lever to open that door on the drivers side by the seat, open the removable panel behind the back seat on the passenger side and you will see a cable - Pull on the slug at the end of the cable and that will open the little door on the drivers side and you will see . . . . that there's no DCQC charge port there

Don
 
Thanks everyone for the help. I was able to locate the slug and open the quick charging port door. Sure enough nothing was there.
Also checking the website by inputting my VIN showed I only have the cold package.

EDIT: Without the quick charging, the car is far less practical than I'd hoped. I'm not sure what kind of trade-in I could get on it should I buy another EV with more mileage and fast-charging.
 
Formarkvisi said:
Without the quick charging, the car is far less practical than I'd hoped. I'm not sure what kind of trade-in I could get on it should I buy another EV with more mileage and fast-charging.
I guess it depends on how you intend to use it - We've had two 2012's now for 7 years, one with DCQC and one without and we've still never used the Quick Charge feature once and we find both of the cars very practical. In fact, in all that time with two cars, we've charged away from home only twice . . . . and that was just because the charging stations were nearby and free, not because we needed to charge to get back home

It depends on where you live, how far your daily commute is and how many total miles per day you anticipate you'll need. The iMiEV's are not our only cars - We have an ICE van and a 2017 Chevy Volt for longer trips

Don
 
wmcbrine said:
Don said:
we've still never used the Quick Charge feature once
Aw, you gotta use it once, just to try it. It's fun to see the bars go up so fast. :)
Don, did you know you no longer need to go to NOLA or Pensacola to try out DCFC? Electrify America has installed a station right next door to you in Gulfport at their Premium Outlets!
https://www.plugshare.com/location/152885

Just don't try heading North, unless you have a Tesla. :roll:
 
We go to Gulfport all the time - Sam's Club is over there. No problem making it home from there though, so why spend $4 recharging??

Trips north are made in the Volt

Don
 
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