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[Due to the increasing size of the archives, each topic page now contains only the prior 365 days of content. Access to older stories is now solely through the Monthly Archive pages or the site search function.]
ANSI releases version 2 of EV Standardization Roadmap
May 14, 2013
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) released Version 2.0 of the Standardization Roadmap for Electric Vehicles, developed by the Institute’s Electric Vehicles Standards Panel (EVSP).
The document tracks progress to implement recommendations made in the roadmap version 1.0, released in April 2012 (earlier post), and identifies additional areas where there is a perceived need for standardization work to help facilitate the safe, mass deployment of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure in the United States.
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ACEEE report recommends steps toward international alignment of heavy-duty vehicle efficiency standards
April 05, 2013
A new report published by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) recommends the international harmonization of fuel efficiency and/or greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses.
Foundational steps toward such alignment would include a common set of test cycles and test payload weights, which would serve to define universal measures of vehicle performance. This in turn would permit a standardized calculation of cost-effectiveness of technology improvements as a function of regional conditions. This would also allow comparison of vehicles in a range of driving conditions, and in particular would allow buyers to estimate performance over their own duty cycles, the report suggests.
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European automakers welcome Obama’s announcement of comprehensive US-Euro trade talks; major focus on regulatory convergence
February 14, 2013
In his State of the Union (SOTU) address Tuesday night, President Barack Obama announced the launch of talks on a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union. The European Association of Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) welcomes the talks, one of the elements of which will be addressing regulatory issues and non-tariff barriers such as different safety or environmental standards for cars.
The goal of the talks, said the EU in a statement, will be to move towards a more integrated transatlantic marketplace, noting that: “Currently, producers who want to sell their products on both sides of the Atlantic often need to pay and comply with procedures twice to get their products approved. The goal of this trade deal is to reduce unnecessary costs and delays for companies, while maintaining high levels of health, safety, consumer and environmental protection....The regulatory area is where the highest potential benefit lies with these trade negotiations.”
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SAE CRP: growing high level of confidence that R1234yf can be used safely; “disappointment” with departure of Daimler, BMW and Audi
February 11, 2013
The SAE International Cooperative Research Project (CRP1234-4) team, formed last year to review relevant research and testing to finalize the risk assessment of the use of the low global warming potential R1234yf in mobile air conditioning systems (earlier post), met face-to-face during the week of 4 February 2013. SAE reported that as the CRP team continues to review relevant research and testing to finalize the risk assessment, the high level of confidence that R1234yf can be used safely in automotive applications continues to grow.
This review—the fourth such—was launched in October 2012 after Daimler in September announced that findings from its internal investigations raised questions on the safe usage of R-1234yf as a replacement refrigerant in mobile air conditioning (MAC) systems and said that it would not use this chemical in its products. (Earlier post.)
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€4.6M eNterop project for PEV-charging point interoperability kicks off
January 28, 2013
The eNterop project, the goal of which is to to ensure the smooth interoperation of plug-in vehicles (PEVs) and charging points from different manufacturers, recently had its kick-off meeting in Berlin. Funding for the €4.6-million (US$6.2-million) project is split 50/50 between the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) and industry parters: Continental, Fraunhofer, TU Dortmund, BMW, VW, Daimler, RWE, and Siemens.
The International standard ISO/IEC 15118 defining communication between vehicle and charging stations was recently established to guarantee this interoperability between vehicle and charging point. For manufacturers of control equipment and charging points, however, the implementation of the standard involves elaborate testing with a wide range of different product types and in all kinds of different use cases.
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Global Commercial Vehicle meeting continues calls for global regulatory harmonization on fuel efficiency and emissions reduction
December 16, 2012
European, North American and Japanese heavy-duty vehicle and engine manufacturers continue to call for global cooperation and regulatory harmonization to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions from the road freight sector, according to a summary of the recent 10th Global Commercial Vehicle meeting posted by the European Association of Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA).
More specifically, the assembled chief executives of manufacturers of heavy-duty commercial trucks and engines agreed on the need to expand the application of the UN ECE’s world-wide harmonized heavy-duty certification (WHDC) procedure for engine exhaust emissions; the importance of global diesel fuel specifications; the development of globally harmonized fuel-efficiency test procedures; and the promotion of harmonization of heavy-duty hybrid certification procedures.
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SAE publishes standards for first responders to hybrid, EV accidents; FEMA awards $1M to NAFTC for first responder training
December 13, 2012
SAE International’s Hybrid Technical Committee has completed the technical standard “J2990—Hybrid and EV First and Second Responder Recommended Practice,” which offers recommended practices for emergency personnel responding to incidents involving hybrid or electric vehicles.
Separately, the US Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded a new grant for nearly $1 million to the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) at West Virginia University for a program to educate the nation’s first responders on the best ways to handle accidents involving alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles. (Earlier post.)
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American and European Standards organizations agree to strengthen transatlantic cooperation on standards for electric vehicles
December 06, 2012
Cooperation on eMobility standardization was the focus of discussion during a Transatlantic Roundtable organized by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which took place in Brussels on 28-29 November.
The event brought together technical experts from industry, government, and other stakeholders to compare and discuss standardization priorities for electric vehicles (EVs) outlined in the October 2011 Report of the CEN-CENELEC Focus Group on European Electro-Mobility and the April 2012 Standardization Roadmap for Electric Vehicles – Version 1.0, developed by the ANSI Electric Vehicles Standards Panel (EVSP). (Earlier post.)
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New international interest group to promote harmonized electromobility data standards
October 22, 2012
Hubject GmbH, a joint venture formed by BMW Group, Bosch, Daimler, EnBW, RWE and Siemens earlier this year, and eighteen other companies have formed the “eMobility ICT Interoperability Interest Group”—an international interest group to promote harmonized electromobility data standards. These would support, for example, integrated charging infrastructures and the easier provision of supplementary services.
Electric cars will become more integrated into the intelligent traffic infrastructure and energy networks of the future than conventional combustion engines, with modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) forming the backbone for the integration of electric vehicles into these networks, the partners note. The cooperation between as many service providers as possible provides the foundation needed to ensure a standardized data exchange between all players and to reduce barriers for the users.
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New joint report outlines EU and US cooperation on connected vehicle standards
The United States and the European Union (EU) have been working together under a 2009 implementation agreement to develop coordinated research programs to foster international connected vehicle technology and international harmonization of the technology and standards necessary for broad deployment of connected vehicle systems.
To highlight the progress of this bilateral effort, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) and the European Commission Directorate General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology (CONNECT) have now published the report “International Deployment of Cooperative Intelligent Transportation Systems: Bilateral Efforts of the European Commission and United States Department of Transportation.” The report describes joint accomplishments and future plans in the areas of connected vehicle safety, standards harmonization, sustainability applications, assessment tools, and driver distraction and human-machine interaction (HMI).
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SAE International releases new fast-charging combo coupler standard (SAE J1772) for plug-in electric and electric vehicles
October 15, 2012
SAE International’s anticipated new revised technical standard for the combo coupler for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and electric vehicles (EV) has been approved and published. (Earlier post.)
Developed in a consensus environment by more than 190 global experts representing automotive, charging equipment, utilities industries and national labs, “J1772: SAE Electric Vehicle and Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Conductive Charge Couple” enables charging time to be reduced from as long as eight hours to as short as 20 minutes.
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Frost & Sullivan analysis suggests momentum toward supplementary 48V on-board power-net
July 02, 2012
Vehicle electrification is not limited to hybrid or electric drive. Conventional automobiles of today are partly electric in their own way, with most systems in the vehicle having electrical and electronic connections for better functionality.
Some high-end vehicles have more than 90 Electronic Control Units (ECUs) to control the various modules within the car, making the car both sophisticated and complicated. However, the trend is not limited to luxury cars. A typical mass-market car such as the Volkswagen Golf has had almost a three-fold increase in the number of ECUs used, from 17 ECUs in generation IV (1998) to 49 ECUs in generation VI (2010), notes Frost & Sullivan analyst Prana Natarajan. For example, Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) uses about 20 ECUs, sending signals to various other systems that interact with it.
