In most countries CCS has become the DC fast charging standard. At an increasing number of charging stations CHAdeMO is being phased out.
We have worked on a CCS fast charging solution that is easy to implement, works well and supports multiple battery management systems as well as multiple onboard chargers.
How the CCS journey started
Early 2022 I completed a CCS implementation for a customer in a 2CV. Totally overkill for this car, but It’s what the end customer wanted. I used the Innolectric 22 kW OBC that also handled the CCS part with the intention to introduce that into the market.
Things ended up differently. The OBC turned out not to be that great (and heavy) and the end customer claimed all rights.
From then onwards I was committed to developing a robust and easy to implement charging solution that could do both CCS and AC charging. It has become a time consuming R&D project and by the end of 2023 there was a first version. One year later it is finding its way into various cars.
Fast charging solution overview
The solution involves a process controller. This is a 32-bit dual CAN MCU with ECE-R10 certification. It works together with a high end SLAC / charge controller made by Chargebyte (also with ECE-R10).
For end user input in the end we offer analog signals (buttons), the Grayhill Touch Encoder (does not have ECE-R10) and a 2,4” color display with four buttons (with ECE-R10). Furthermore various on board chargers will be supported and this list will be extended. We can support both CAN controller chargers as well as chargers that require CP and PP input. This is summarized in the below diagram
Initially only V2L with the compatible onboard charger available from EVcreate is supported. Later on bi-directional CCS charging will be added.
Supported battery management systems
The solution dynamically uses data from the BMS and end user input. Currently we support the following battery management systems:
- Lithium Balance n-BMS
- Lithium Balance s-BMS
- Thunderstruck Dilithium
Later on other battery management systems might be added such as Emus and Orion. For these development and testing is currently in process.
Parameters include battery voltage, battery current, max allowed DC charge current, car ready to receive charge, battery kWh, etcetera. Furthermore the flag to disable isolation monitoring during fast charging is send. Some BMSses cannot provide all (static) parameters. For this we have an alternative solution / config.
For CCS to work, a minimum system voltage at low state of charge of 200V is required.
Supported onboard chargers
The charge controller also controls the onboard charger. Current list is:
- EVcreate’s favorite: 10 kW 3-phase (also works a 6,6 kW 1-phase) with V2L and integrated DC/DC
- Elcon (including OBC’s using that protocol) 3,3 and 6,6 kW, single phase up to three in parallel
- TSM2500, 3,3 kW single phase
- Tesla Gen2 with Openinverter logic board, 11 kW 3-phase
More OBC’s will be added later.
Supported user input/interaction
Most simple way is a switch that allows the user to use normal charging up to the max set in the BMS. This is referred to as “long range” mode. Or it is possible to pull the switch and charging will stop at 80% SOC. The same applies to enabling V2L if the onboard charger is capable of that.
Later two ‘display type’ options will be added.
CCS Socket with locking actuator
In the end both CCS1 and CCS2 will be supported. For now we focus on CCS2. By default a ‘self assembly’ Duosida sockets is provided as part of the kit and Phoenix Contact sockets are available as an option. The Duosida sockets are supplied with the dsiec-elm lock actuator and a helper box for adding the required coding resistors.
Availability
I have listed the CCS fast charging kit performance edition in my webshop. The CCS2 version is in stock but shows up as ‘backorder’ as it is a ‘made/configured to order’ product.
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CCS fast charging kit performance edition€3.695,00 – €3.995,00
Electric Porsche 911 CCS fast charging
This beautiful Porsche 911 is converted by Tom Zidek (Vintage Volts) using the kit from Electric Classic Cars (ECC) that has the EVcreate charging solution. Further details can be found in the Electric Classic Cars post in my Portfolio: projects and customers section.
Stay tuned!
I will add more info and demo videos to this blogpost later.
Blog series on DC fast charging
- DC fast charging, an introduction
- CHAdeMO fast charging in DIY
- CCS fast charging in DIY
- Nissan Leaf CCS fast charging
- 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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So what is the maximum charging speed with this kit? Is charging rate of 150KW, or even 350KW possible?
That strongly depends on your vehicle setup.
My charging solution supports voltages up to 900VDC and current up to 500A.
So in theory that is 450 kW.
However, in practice that is not the case. Currently there is no battery or socket that accepts 500A at 900V.
So two theoretical examples at 50% SOC:
But this 500A is also just a peak value. As soon as temperatures increase this is derated.
My charging solution takes care of temperature monitoring of the socket and derates as needed.
The car / BMS needs to monitor and manage the temperatures of the components in the car (mainly battery but also cables and connections need to be able to handle the current) and derate accordingly if needed. At higher charge currents having proper thermal management in place is key plus you need a cell chemistry that can handle it in the first place.