CCS DC Fast Charge
Nissan Leaf CHAdeMO and J1772 charging port
Here is a simple explanation of what level 1 and 2 charging is. Level one charging uses 120 volts to supply the cars on board charger. Level 2 charging supplies the on board charger with 240 volts AC power. This is done through the J1772 connector. The cars on board charger converts AC into DC power that is used to charge the battery. Level 3 charging doesn’t use the on board charger to generate the DC power to charge the battery. Instead the level 3 charging station supplies DC power directly to the battery to charge it via charging port. There are three types of level 3 charging connectors that are widely used. Tesla has their own special connector that is used to charge the Model S. CHAdeMO is used by many EV manufactures. The SAE J1772 Combined Combo System DCFC (CCS DC Fast Charge) is the new standard that starting to get wider acceptance among EV manufactures. Some of the newer Level 3 charging station have both the CHAdeMO and the CCS.
EVs that use CHAdeMO
Nissan Leaf
Mitsubishi i
KIA Soul EV
EVs that use CCS
Chevy Spark EV
BMW i3
Volkswagen E-Golf
On a dual port charging station you may see both types of charging cables. This seems to be the most common way you will see the CCS chargers at this time.
The advantage to using CCS is that it can handle more power than CHAdeMO. Since the trend is to put larger batteries in the electrics it only makes sense to also increase power of the level 3 charging stations. But the charging port connector may prove to be the limiting factor in charging rates for electric vehicles. The second reason is you only need one port to do all 3 levels of charging.
