redLEAF said:
There was a slim possibility that the original FFE was to be available before the LEAF in the Chicago market a few years back but as history tells us, that simply wasn't to be; these are still quite a rare occurrence out this way. The compromised cargo space, (initial) high price of entry, limited to zero dealer interest ... just had too much going against it and still no regrets from me in the 4 years we've had our LEAF; kind of a shame really as I've owned a few Ford's over the years; not surprised they went with the SAE combo if that ends up being true, just one more example of not being a mainstream EV player.
CCS is pretty mainstream now, and will be even more so in the future (in the U.S.: it's definitely mainstream in Europe now, 1,615 CCS-2 vs. 2,755 CHAdeMO there - see http://insideevs.com/1600-combo-chargers-in-europe-includes-chademo-comparison/ ) as both German (VW group, Daimler, BMW) and U.S. manufacturers (GM with the Bolt, Ford, etc.) introduce cars that use it. While the number of CHAdeMO both here and in Europe is still larger, I wouldn't be surprised if the number of CCS that are both available to the general public 24/7
and working is equal or greater than CHAdeMO, as so many of the CHAdeMOs were installed at dealerships with restricted access, and/or have gone unmaintained. At least with eVgo, they've avoided the former, and seem to be doing a good job of preventing the latter. Whether the BMW 24kW CCS-only units at motels and the like will be similarly maintained remains to be seen. And the manufacturers seem to have recognized that with longer range BEVs appearing they need higher power chargers, as Audi is talking about 150kW as a first stage CCS increase, and looking to well above that down the road.
