CCS Conversions

[Texas FFE]

I'm opening this thread because I think conversions to Combined Charging System for DCFC charging of the Ford Focus Electric are inevitable and this thread is intended to capture efforts in creating these conversions. Personally I plan to continue to investigate CCS conversions until I have accomplished CCS charging of my 2013 FFE using the existing or modified charging port opening. Any comments or discussion of CCS conversion projects will be highly appreciated.

 

[michael]

I truly think this is not a good idea. Save your money, turn in the 2013 and get something new that already includes the CCS capability.

One of the board members here, SEFS, has put a lot of effort into a CHADEMO setup. He can probably tell you more than everyone else here combined.

 

[Pearl]

Won't the 2017 FFE have CCS ?
Trade your 2013 in for that.

 

[Texas FFE]

I truly think this is not a good idea. Save your money, turn in the 2013 and get something new that already includes the CCS capability.

One of the board members here, SEFS, has put a lot of effort into a CHADEMO setup. He can probably tell you more than everyone else here combined.

My FFE is an excellent car and it's in excellent condition. The FFE has the potential of being a very good car for a very, very long time, maybe 300,000+ miles. My FFE is already paid for but getting another car for no other reason than it has CCS capabilities would set me back at least $20,000.

I don’t think replacing my FFE just to get CCS is a very good idea. I looked at the CHAdeMO conversion project and I don’t like it, I don’t like the idea of opening my hood to charge my car. Plus I’m a believer in CCS, not CHAdeMO.

 

[Texas FFE]

Won't the 2017 FFE have CCS ?
Trade your 2013 in for that.

There are over 6,000 FFEs in the Unites States and they are all very nice cars but they all suffer from the lack of fast charging capabilities. These FFEs are not disposable cars but are going to be around for decades to come. The need for CCS conversions on these cars is very strong.

The 2017 FFE should provide even more impetus for converting older FFEs to CCS. Many of the 2017 CCS parts may be directly usable on the older FFE CCS conversions. At the very least the 2017 models will provide templates for how to convert older FFE.

 

[Texas FFE]

To all those posters that wish to provide discouraging remarks concerning CCS conversions; I’ve already heard all of those arguments against CCS conversions before and I disagree with them. If you don’t have substantive or supportive to say, please keep your comments to yourselves on this thread.

 

[Pearl]

I whole heatedly support fast charging and CCS. It is essential for the success of Electric Vehicles.
If somebody can make a cost effective conversion for my nearly 4 year old 2013 FFE, I will buy one.

 

[awefulspeller]

This is an interesting thread, thanks for starting.

I bet once the 2017 FFE is released and parts are available, there may be a plug-n-play solution for 2016s and prior. As long as the charging door on the 2017 stays the same, it could be as simple as ordering the parts from Ford and swapping.

Somewhere on this forum, someone claimed that the 2016 FFEs and earlier already support CCS (I'm assuming in the CAN software for the car).

 

[triangles]

I whole heatedly support fast charging and CCS. It is essential for the success of Electric Vehicles.
If somebody can make a cost effective conversion for my nearly 4 year old 2013 FFE, I will buy one.

There's CCS fast chargers over in NE Ohio?

There is exactly one fast charger in NW Ohio and it's a CHAdeMO not CCS located at the University of Toledo. Now if there were a way to make a conversion to use the Tesla super charger network..... That I could get excited about but, it will never happen.

 

[Pearl]

There's CCS fast chargers over in NE Ohio?

They've popped up at several Walmarts around town.

 

[brogult]

@Texas FFE

Let's start here: How much would you be willing to pay for the conversion if one were commercially or semi-commercially available? And I'm referring to a professionally manufactured product, not some one-off, unsupported version.

 

[Pearl]

The Charge Package on the Nissan Leaf, which includes the 6.6 kW Onboard Charger and Quick Charge Port is a $1770 option from the factory.

That's a good reference point.

 

[michael]

Another reference point: there is a CHADEMO retrofit for the Rav 4 EV $2999

http://shop.quickchargepower.com/JdeMo-for-Rav4EV-JdeMORav4.htm?productId=28

However, the Rav has a battery twice the size of of the FFE so DCFC is more useful

 

[Texas FFE]

I just saw the CCS charge port door for the 2017 FFE on the Ford.com website. I was thinking that the charge port door was going to be the same size as the older FFE with just the charge ring eliminated but it's not. The CCS charge port door is a completely different size and shape.

So, it looks like if you want to put a 2017+ CCS charging system on your pre-2017 FEE you're going to have to either cut a new hole in the fender or replace the right front fender. I think I would prefer to get a 2017 fender as opposed to cutting a new hole in the existing fender. Replacement 2017 FFE fenders should available soon and at least you would know that everything should fit up right and the fender would have all the correct bosses for the CCS components.

I think I will wait about a year for technicians to get familiar with the 2017 CCS components on the FFE. Then I'm going to start bugging the Ford dealers and the custom EV shops to get 2017 CCS components installed on my 2013 FFE. Replacing my FFE with a 2017 FFE just because 2017 FFE has CCS would cost about $23k, not including taxes and interest, and that really doesn't make sense to me if I can get CCS on my existing FFE for under $5k.

If any of you don't want to wait and want to start pushing for a CCS conversion on your FFE now, please post your results (successes and failures).

 

[Alphaman]

Replacing my FFE with a 2017 FFE just because 2017 FFE has CCS...

Technically, it also has a much larger capacity battery, that results in much greater range, too.

 

[fbitz777]

To me I don't see how you can claim that existing FFE will be around for decades or 300,000 miles

The battery would be well dead before that based on the number of charge cycles or timeframe. In my mind 7 years and 100k are probably usabe limits.

So I would only want to go along with a CCS conversion if there is a way to get new battery from Ford or others along the way.
And that's be well over 5k based on existing estimates. It's a shame because I think the motor and the mechanical components of the FFE can last as you stated.

 

[WattsUp]

The battery would be well dead before that based on the number of charge cycles or timeframe. In my mind 7 years and 100k are probably usabe limits.

Strange that the battery warranty goes to 8 years, then.

 

[fbitz777]

yeah good luck getting a new battery from Ford since there is no definition of usable battery in their 8 years warranty!

anything under 16kwh (? 60 miles) to me means useless.

you don't see many 2011 or 2012 bragging about reaching 100k miles, do you?

 

[michael]

The 8 year warranty covers failure, not fading.

Based on my experience a 7 year, 100,000 mile car will be down to 50-60% of initial battery capacity. At that time, 200+ mile cars will be the norm. A 40 mile car will be essentially valueless.

 

[WattsUp]

The 8 year warranty covers failure, not fading.

Correct.

What I meant to imply is that if Ford is willing to warranty the battery for that long, even against failure, the car's useful life is not likely to be over by then.

That is in contrast to fbitz777's opinion that an FFE won't be "usable" after even 7 years. Mine is going on 4 years, 50K miles, and is still very useful.