Automakers Agree on Single Universal Charging Port
October 21, 2011 By 6 Comments
Combined Charging: The universal charging system for electric vehicles jointly demonstrated by German vehicles manufactures for the first time.The German vehicle manufactures Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche, and Volkswagen are going to present the Combined Charging System at the 15th International VDI-Congress and Exhibition “Electronic Systems for Motor Vehicles” from 2011-10-12/13 for the first time. The Combined Charging System has been developed in close cooperation with the American vehicle manufacturers Ford and General Motors (GM). This universal charging system needs only a single charging interface at the vehicle allowing the customer to charge with all existing charging methods: one-phase AC-charging, fast three-phase AC-charging, DC-charging at home or ultra-fast DC-charging at public charging stations.A uniform vehicle interface reduces the complexity for development and deployment of electric vehicles. Multiple connectors in the infrastructure and different charging inlets at the vehicle are not needed for AC-charging on the one hand and DC-charging on the other hand. This unification goes beyond the connector: The Combined Charging System integrates also the charging communication and the electric and safety architecture. This will lead to cost reduction and facilitates the spread of electro-mobility at world level.The concept of the Combined Charging System was submitted in close cooperation with the above mentioned American vehicle manufacturers to the International Standardization in January 2011. The presentation at Baden-Baden will show the installation of the Combined Charging System in vehicles of manufactures being part of this initiative. This marks another development milestone. The Combined Charging System will be ready for deployment mid 2012 and then introduced into the market.
The vehicle manufactures Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche, and Volkswagen have joined their forces in the Initiative Charging Interface and are the main drivers in the development of the Combined Charging System.
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About Christopher DeMorro
ugh.
This sounded great, until I got to the part where they apparently have only agreed upon the same plug for the North American market, not for the whole world. We will still be in the situation where there will be special models for North America, and the whole rest of the world could be completely different.
Then I got to the part where the Japanese (and others) haven’t agreed on even using the same standard for North America. All the sudden it started to sound to me more like “Automakers CAN’T Agree on Single Universal Charging Port”.
*shakes head*
Now that the Charging Port is universal, the next important difference between the various companies will be regarding charge capacity, range, and price. Hopefully, in the end, the consumer will be the winner getting a vehicle that is cheap, efficient and clean.
Juan Miguel Ruiz (Going Green)
Its rather impossible to make a single charger for the whole world because at least Europe and America use different outlets.
The standard outlet in America is a 3 pronged one with the 3rd prong being the grounder.
In Europe they use a 2 pronged plug with a different voltage than American plugs and I’ll assume no grounder.
Its like making a one sized fits all shirt, just doesn’t work for everybody.
I think they mean a standard plug like, on the CAR side, so that people in every country will have an easier job manufacturing cords – like USB, for example … or are you trying to make the case that USB doesn’t work in Europe?
Jeffrey – You’re correct about the Europe plugs being different, but it’s not just about voltage. It’s also about the amps with which those volts are delivered. Europe, as a whole, uses a different rate than the North American sector. This is also the reason why our land-line phones won’t work on their phone jacks. Different rates of flow, so to say.
Just the same, we’ll probably see the J1772 used in the NA market, the CHAdeMO througout Asia, and a combo of the two for the Europeans.
Looks like Africa is on its own…