DC Charge Retrofit

[crustovich]

Down under, Mitsubishi in it's infinite wisdom decided to supply the PHEV without a Chademo DC charging port (space is there under the flap, just no socket).

A few of us are keen to get the port retrofitted. Unsurprisingly, Mitsubishi are not interested in retrofitting it. Does anyone have enough knowledge of the system to be able to put together a kit to do this?

 

[sawman82]

We pay enough for the car over here you think they would have just left it in. Anyways I reckon they saved a few bucks on hardware so decided to leave it out. You would first have to work out what hardware you required. Start taking things apart and see what is missing. Apart from the socket there is bound to be other interface equipment not installed. Then there is the issue of software. I'm sure they would have left a few lines of code out to disable the Chademo.

 

[jaapv]

I would not spend too much time/effort/money on this if I were you.
For two reasons:
Mitsubushi is not too keen on customers using ChaDeMo and warns that regular use may lead to a shortened battery lifespan (wiggle room for guaranty? :twisted: )
Secondly, as soon as subsidies run out -and I suppose Oz is much like other countries in this respect- the electricity through these chargers will be more expensive than burning petrol.

 

[maby]

I doubt that their reason for omitting it was cost saving - the DC rapid charge pretty much bypasses all the internal systems of the car and lets the external charger manage the battery. My impression was that the rapid charge socket effectively connects directly to the battery with associated connections to the car's internal sensors to give the external charger the necessary information to manage the battery state. Missing it off cannot have saved them very much in financial terms.

 

[zzcoopej]

A few of us are keen to get the port retrofitted.

If you can figure out how to use it, I'd be prepared to sell the ChaDeMo in my iMiEV but I doubt the cables would be the correct length given the different bodyshape and side (iMiEV has the 2 chargers on opposite sides of the car, unlike the PHEV).

Mitsu Au didn't think there were enough ChaDeMo in Oz, and after initially thinking I'd missed out like you, I now agree with Mitsu Au! I think you'll spend $1k at least for the required parts at "spares" prices (just a 10a EVSE is about $500), and how many places can you use it? I know of only Strathfield NRMA in Sydney for example so the ChaDeMo on my iMiEV has never been connected in 12 months of ownership. So unless you have lots of ChaDeMo in Melbourne in walking distance to your work, you'll never recoup your outlay ($5 in fuel for 50km vs say $1k for ChaDeMo requires 200 free charges to breakeven). Can you recharge at home overnight as that is really how the car is best used?

 

[jaapv]

I do not know what the MOT rules are in Australia, but I can see the argument that this would be a structural change invalidating the original specifications with an automatic MOT failure.

 

[crustovich]

Thanks for the feedback.
There are 2 chademo chargers in Melbourne that I know of, and one is on route to my work.
I have been using the level 2 chargers occasionally to get me round trip to work on battery, however 1/2 hour dc charging is much more appealing.
Even if the parts are available, the wiring diagram shows it connecting to the canbus so I assume software changes would be required as well?

 

[gwatpe]

Is the ChaDeMo electricity free? ChargePoint is certainly only free electricity at certain locations.

As I have found, unless the electricity cost per kWh is under 20% of the petrol cost per litre, you may as well burn petrol from a cost only perspective.

 

[Sopley13]

The other reason for the need of a ChaDeMo socket is if you want to connect your PHEV to your house's solar/battery/mains system. I would love to connect the 13kWh battery in my PHEV to my house but suspect all sorts of warranty issues would appear. However, a connection to the vehicle that allows data transfer is first required and that is what a CHDeMo set up may facilitate. Anyone got any views on this?

 

[jaapv]

You need a separate 16 A home charging station for that. Many do, I do.
A ChaDeMo charger is far too expensive for private use (from about 3000 Euro) , and most domestic systems cannot provide 32 Amps without modification.

 

[SolarBoy]

You need a separate 16 A home charging station for that. Many do, I do.
A ChaDeMo charger is far too expensive for private use (from about 3000 Euro) , and most domestic systems cannot provide 32 Amps without modification.

My house's incoming supply is limited to 24,000kW which is an additional issue for a ChaDeMo charger.

 

[PeteInOz]

G'day Gents,

Sorry to chime in late here but I just came across this post and I thought I would share some insights about a couple of things you should know before thinking about or trying to possibly upgrade the Ozzie PHEVs to ChaDeMo. I seriously looked into this issue some time back but was stopped in my tracks when I found that the Battery Packs are actually slightly different (i.e. Pack A and Pack B). We have Pack A here in OZ but the Japanese / European fast charge ChaDeMo implementation requires a Pack B.

I posted some technical documents some time ago on the forum and one of them was the Technical Highlights Manual. On page 112, not least, it states that a 'Quick Charge Fuse' and 'Quick Charge Contactor' is not fitted to the OZ battery pack model. Here's the link to the document (page 112 refers).

https://1drv.ms/b/s!AgEk2i3xTLgQj2PP7cOQm87Iss9W

In addition, there appears to be other considerations also, such as the cooling system, which is actively employed to not only cool the battery, but the onboard charger also (page 120 refers). Without reading the document in detail here, I am unsure what implications for cooling may also have to be taken into account.

I hope this helps ...

Cheers

Peter

 

[ultralights]

Thanks for that, will come in very handy soon.