Nissan Leaf ZE1 charge plug lock gear replacement

thingiverse

Plastic gears can wear out and fail. The mechanism inside the nissan leaf ZE1, which locks the charging plug in the AC charging port, uses those plastic gears. One gear in particular wears out first and causes the mechanism to make loud grinding noises when actuated. The gears geometry is not too complicated and might be able to be 3D printed and replaced. This design was created out of curiosity but has never acually be tested in the mechanism. If you want to give it a try I would appreciate a comment if this design works :) See this SpeakEV thread for photos of the disassembled mechanism: https://www.speakev.com/threads/leaf-2019-charge-flap-actuator-grinding-sound.174072/ Here you can see the gear which needs to be replaced: https://imgur.com/a/3dsz2gR (credit to user together.int on SpeakEV for the original photo).