Nissan might have turned over a new Leaf that offers CCS rapid charging, but there are still thousands of Japanese EVs on the UK’s roads that use old-style CHAdeMO plugs and they’re finding it harder and harder to find places to charge.
Never fear, though – charge firm Instavolt has committed to a CHAdeMO plug on every one of its sites, which will mean according to the company that EV drivers are “never more than 30 miles from an Instavolt charger”. Which is about the range of the earlier Nissan Leafs, isn’t it? Still, they've managed to outlive some charging networks, like Ecotricity below.
The company says it has made its commitment during ‘used EV week’, and says that it won’t be leaving the thousands of drivers who depend on the old style of plugs behind. (You can check out Electrifying’s extensive used EV listings here, incidentally…)
Instavolt says that its commitment to the charging type comes while its rivals are decommissioning existing CHAdeMO plugs and no longer installing them at new sites.
Instavolt CEO Delvin Lane said: “Every Instavolt site, existing and new, has CHAdeMO alongside CCS. That’s not a legacy afterthought, it’s a deliberate choice to back the used EV market. A car doesn’t stop being viable the day the manufacturer moves on to a new connector.”
The company’s commitment to the old charging format means that in addition to the CHAdeMO plugs at its existing 900 sites, it plans to install the plugs at the 300 new sites it currently has planned.
Instavolt hasn’t said how long the commitment will be in place beyond those 300 sites, nor what sort of challenge it’s facing to keep sourcing the parts for its chargers.
The CHAdeMO plug was introduced in 2010 and typically offered 50kW fast charging for EVs, but is no longer featured on any EVs that are currently for sale in Europe.
It’s not just the Nissan Leaf that used the format though – other cars included the Nissan e-NV200, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, first generation Kia Soul EV and bizarrely the Lexus UX300e that hasn't long gone off sale.
