Seven Automakers Agree On Combined EV Charging System

[kristopher]

Seven Automakers Agree On Combined EV Charging System
by Renew Grid on Wednesday 12 October 2011


Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen have agreed on a combined electric-vehicle (EV) charging system for vehicles in Europe and the U.S., Ford Motor Co. has announced.

The system is a combined charging approach that integrates all charging scenarios into one vehicle inlet/charging connector and uses identical ways for the vehicle to communicate with the charging station.

Standardization will reduce build complexity for manufacturers and accelerate the installation of common systems internationally, according to Ford.

The seven auto manufacturers have also agreed to use HomePlug GreenPHY as the communication protocol. The endorsement of the combined charging system was based on reviews and analysis of existing charging strategies, the ergonomics of the connector and the preferences of customers in both the U.S. and Europe.

The harmonized approach ...

http://www.renewgridmag.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.7457

[msongs]

1. asian car makers conspicuously absent from this list... nt

[PoliticAverse]

4. They are working on a standard through their own organization: CHAdeMO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHAdeMO

http://wot.motortrend.com/electric-teamwork-seven-carmakers-agree-on-single-ev-fast-charge-standard-125777.html

[dmallind]

6. EV's from these makers are conspicuously absent from reality though. nt

[PoliticAverse]

2. Link to Ford's announcement...

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=35430

[FBaggins]

3. Excellent!

The move will likely drive any other manufactures (are you listening Japan/Korea?) considering EVs to join the club.

[AndyTiedye]

5. About Time!

The charging stations around here have about 5 different kinds of chargers, since each EV uses a different one.

[txlibdem]

7. You can still charge up via a J-1772 plug or (in Europe) the IEC 62196 Type 2 plug

From the link to the Ford press release:

The harmonized electric vehicle charging solution is backward compatible with the J1772 connector standard in the U.S. Backward compatibility also has been achieved in Europe where the system is based on the IEC 62196 Type 2. The approval of the J1772 standard has given electric vehicle owners the comfort of knowing they can charge at all Level 2 charging stations.

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=35430

So the most the Asian mfgrs would need to do is a firmware update.

Eventually the differing standards will all play out and we'll have one standard for the plug and one communications standard. It may take some time and some ego squashing on occasion to get there.

/edit to add: nice find!