ANSI report on electric drive vehicle standards calls for better coordination and harmonization, public-private partnership
17 August 2011
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), coordinator of the US voluntary standardization system, has submitted to the US Department of Energy (DOE) a report outlining priority areas where standards and conformance activities are needed to facilitate the safe, effective, and large-scale deployment of electric drive vehicles (EDV) in the United States.
The report details findings from the ANSI Workshop held in April, Standards and Codes for Electric Drive Vehicles, which ANSI convened on behalf of DOE and the Idaho National Laboratory. The overarching conclusion of the April workshop was a call for better coordination and harmonization of standardization efforts, and for a public-private partnership to move this work forward quickly and effectively.
Participants agreed that a standardization roadmap for North America would help to establish priorities for the work that needs to be done. A matrix of the various coordinating bodies and standards activities would also help stakeholders to navigate the various activities taking place and facilitate global harmonization.
The interoperability of electric cars with the charging infrastructure was identified as a key area for discussion with respect to harmonization, including the need for North America and Europe to quickly decide about moving forward in harmony. Coordination is also needed on such areas as residential applications, metering, preferential rates, time of use, and communications protocols. Work toward national consistency on permitting (“permit by notification”) would also be desirable, and could be extended to local jurisdictions.
According to the ANSI Workshop Report: Standards and Codes for Electric Drive Vehicles, the issues of safety and consumer confidence—and the conformance and training programs needed to support them—are key priorities for the widespread acceptance of EDVs and the continued growth of the market.
To offer a neutral forum where public and private sector stakeholders can work cooperatively toward solutions that will help build the market for EDVs, ANSI formed the Electric Vehicles Standards Panel (EVSP) in March 2011. (Earlier post.) The goal of the EVSP is to produce a strategic roadmap by year’s end that will define the standards and conformity assessment programs that are needed to support this major shift in the automotive landscape.
The EVSP began the groundwork for the standardization roadmap at its plenary meeting on 20-21 June in Detroit. The ANSI Workshop Report: Standards and Codes for Electric Drive Vehicles will serve as a key input document to the continued efforts of the EVSP.
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Nissan and Mitsubishi have already agreed to work together to design and build standard V2H capabilities for their future PHEVs and BEVs. This could be very useful during power cuts. A DC to DC, V2V standard would also help to transfer energy from one electrified vehicle to another to keep going to the next charge point.
Posted by: HarveyD | 17 August 2011 at 11:21 AM