CCS fast charging in DIY

As mentioned in my introduction into DC fast charging in the end CCS will become the dominating standard for DC fast charging. However the CHAdeMO infrastructure is not expected to shrink fast so at the moment it is still a good opportunity. In particular since implementhing CHAdeMO in a DIY setting is much more straightforward and (thus) cheaper compared to CCS. For example with my CHAdeMO controller.

Update: The EVcreate CCS solution is (nearly) ready.

Yet in the end the CCS charging infrastructure will keep improving so working on CCS DC fast charge solutions for DIY is important and they are emerging! I try to continue to update this blogpost. If you gave a working DIY CCS implementation using any of the below approaches or others, please let me know.

Early days of aftermarket CCS fast charging in DIY

Back in 2022 there were a few aftermarket CCS DC fast charge controllers around. However these units were far from plug and play and still required significant implementation efforts.

Back then there were two aftermarket solutions I am aware of that were (more or less) plug and play. One is a CCS fast charging upgrade installed ‘as a service’ by Muxsan and is specifically geared towards the Nissan Leaf and e-NV200 that already have their range extender. The other one is a CCS Type2 Fast Charging Kit by Fellten (formerly Zero EV) in the UK to be used with Orion 2 BMS. Now EVcreate has introduced a CCS and AC charging solution that is plug and play compatible with multiple BMSses. I am under the impression that the Muxsan solutions is based on the Vector VC-EVCC (.pdf) charging ECU. I’f I’m correct the Fellten solution was initially using Vector as well. However these have been out of stock and difficult to source for a long time so I think they now switched to another CCS controller.

Together with Ruben from 2CV Électrique I also have been working on a CCS implementation. It is based on a 22 kW Onboard Charger made by Innolectric that also facilitates the CCS process. A couple of cars are currently on the road with that setup. However it was far from trouble free and turned out no to be robust and stable. So unfortunately I have abandoned the Innolectric OBC. Instead I’m working on other options. I’m aware of the Stercom solution and EDN from Italy also has an onboard charger that also handles CCS.

There are a few more aftermarket controller solutions out there such as the one from Advantics but I have not studied those in detail or have had a chance to play around with them. So will add more later. Please contact me if you have more info or experience to share which I can add.

Using OEM components to implement CCS

The above mentioned aftermarket solutions have one disadvantage in common: they are relatively expensive. There are many production electric vehicles equipped with CCS. So reusing components is an interesting opportunity. Within the DIY EV community there have been efforts on reverse engineering components from Tesla, Hyundai and BMW. In the end Damien (EVbmw.com) was the one who took the lead in reverse engineering the BMW i3 LIM. With success!

BMW i3 LIM

Already on June 8th Damien had his first successful i3 LIM hacked CCS charging session.

First CCS Success from Damien Maguire on Vimeo. Please consider supporting him on Patreon: EVbwm.

Basically the Openinverter Wiki: BMW I3 Fast Charging LIM Module covers everything you need so I am not going to replicate any of that over here.

There are some pieces of the puzzle that I’m offering. The Voltage Sense Board which senses the voltage at the socket. This function is normally performed by the KLE in the BMW i3. Furthermore a connector kit and (soon) the required 15,3 Ohm contactors will be available.

My ‘performance’ CCS fast charging kit is (nearly) ready. I have decided not to pursue developing a LIM based solution so this will just be LIM related parts.

Openinverter – Focci

For those who want to tinker yourselves, have software/firmware development skills and in cases where ECE-R10 certification is not a requirement, Focci might be an interesting option.

Focci stands for Fully Open CCS Charge Controller Interface and runs on software called Clara. It was initiated / created by Uhi on the Openinverter.org forum and Johannes and many others joined in.

Key page to check out is the Openinverter Wiki on Focci where you will find the relevant links to:

• The hardware : Fully Open Source CCS Controller – community edition for sale for 380 euro ex VAT (as per June 2024) in the Openinverter shop.
• The Focci repository on Github
• The repository in Github for the Clara software running on Focci
• And of course the Openinverter forum topic where it all started : Develop a QCA7000 board?

I will try to add more on Focci later.

Other OEMs

Work has also been done on the Tesla fast charge ECU but as far as I know that case never got cracked. I also bought a charge control unit from a Kona which could also be an interesting candidate.

This paragraph will be updated as soon as more details are available.

Blog series on DC fast charging

1. DC fast charging, an introduction
2. CHAdeMO fast charging in DIY
3. CCS fast charging in DIY
4. Nissan Leaf CCS fast charging
5. EVcreate CCS fast charging solution including AC onboard charger control

Feedback welcome

Any feedback, additions, suggestions for improvement is welcome. Please contact me by e-mail.

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