The Volt charger door is something like a 6" circle. The Leaf charger door is more like 17" X 9" X 12". That's so large that it can only go in the front, which isn't optimal placement if you want to avoid replacements due to small collisions.walterbays said:I still don't see the compelling space saving to have 3mm of plastic versus 3mm of plastic, 4cm gap, and another 3mm of plastic.
You might be able to combine a CHAdeMO socket with the other combined connector but, given that the existing CHAdeMO ports won't work with the new connector, what advantage would be gained by using a proprietary connector in conjunction with a open standard connector rather than using two open standard connectors, especially when the proprietary connector is lower wattage?
Nissan and Mitsubishi are not exactly flooding the market with millions of CHAdeMO equipped EVs. Nissan has delivered how many Leafs? Mitsubishi has delivered how many i-Mievs? The numbers are just very small.DaveinOlyWA said:what it really boils down to is a handful of manufacturers "the 7"; none of which will have an applicable EV (Ford Focus EV has NO QC option) on the market for at least a year more likely to be 18 months.
then we have Mitsubishi and Nissan "M/N" both of which already are selling cars that use CHA. by this time next year we "hope" to have 500 of these QC stations scattered around the country.
this is scaring the 7. so what they are doing now is trying to derail M/N. slow them down. cool their jets.
At this point even getting 100 QCs installed doesn't seem likely. Ever uber-optimistc Nissan marketing suggests there will be 400, http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/chargingMap/index#/leaf-electric-car/chargingMap/index" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, but, given what Ecotality is saying about the number which will be installed in 2012, more realistically there might be 50 QCs installed by the end of 2013. Ecotality is saying that it can't place QCs when the federal government is paying for 80% of the cost of the charger and 80% of the cost of the installation. If it can't essentially give the things away, it's not likely we'll see an uptick in installations when the subsidy goes away, which will happen in two months. (Even the 50 QCs assumes that Ecotality can use the federal grant money for QCs and installs after the grant expires in January).
The notion that the seven manufacturers have rejected CHAdeMO because they want to slow Nissan down doesn't seem supported by any known facts. The US group and BMW were instrumental in getting J1772 approved despite the fact that none of them had an EV on the road or, if they did, they had one that didn't need 240V charging. If these companies were truly interested in slowing Nissan down they could have slow rolled J1771. Given that they didn't, it seems that Nissan isn't a primary motivation. Standards always involve corporate politics, but let's not forget that standards are alos rejected simply because they're not very good or because they're proprietary.