Patent ID: 8317534

Claim:
A charging connector connectable to a vehicle-side connector along a connecting direction for charging a battery in a vehicle, comprising: a case including front end with a fitting connectable to the vehicle-side connector; a lever accommodated in the case, the lever including a lock engageable with a lockable portion on the vehicle-side connector and adapted to hold the vehicle-side connector and the fitting in a connected state by the engagement of the lock and the lockable portion, a lock release provided on the lever and having a pressable portion with a surface facing outward form the case, the surface of the pressable portion having opposite front and rear ends and being pressable during an unlocking operation for canceling a locked state of the lock portion and the lockable portion, and a lock release accommodating portion formed at a position of the case body substantially corresponding to the lock release and including first and second side walls arranged to substantially face opposite sides of the lock release and to extend substantially from the front end of the pressable portion to the rear end of the pressable portion, the side walls have outer edges that project sufficiently outward on the case so that every line extending transverse to the connecting direction and connecting the outer edges of the first and second side walls is outward of the surface of the pressable portion of the lock release in positions registered with that line so that the side walls prevent contact with and damage to the lock release if the charging connector is dropped.