Seven auto manufacturers collaborate on harmonized electric vehicle fast charging solution
13 October 2011
Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen have agreed on the combined charging system as an international standardized approach to charge electric vehicles (EV) in Europe and the United States. (Earlier post.)
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. This allows electric vehicles from Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen can share the same fast charging stations.
The harmonized electric vehicle charging solution is backward compatible with the J1772 connector standard in the US. 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. Prior to standardization an EV owner had no way of knowing if the charge port they were pulling up to was compatible with their vehicle.
The seven auto manufacturers also agreed to use HomePlug Green Phy as the communication protocol. This approach will also facilitate integration of the electric vehicle into future smart grid applications.
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 United States and Europe. The harmonized approach—across both continents and all manufacturers— will provide a framework for future infrastructure planning as well as a communication protocol to assist in the integration of electric vehicles into the smart grids.
The seven auto manufacturers believe the development of a common charging approach is good for customers, the industry and charging infrastructure providers. Standardization will reduce build complexity for manufacturers, accelerate the installation of common systems internationally and most importantly, improve the ownership experience for EV drivers. Automakers point to the success of Level 1 and Level 2 (for 220V charging in the US) as an example of how standardization will increase the adoption of electric vehicles and increase customer satisfaction.
The so called “ultra fast DC-charging” should be able to do 100kW so that you could charge 20kWh in 12 minutes or enough to drive about 60 miles at 70 mph in a Leaf sized car. That will make EVs possible for families that can only afford one car that must be used for all kinds of driving. The key to EV mass adaption is really to increase the charging speed as it is the least costly way to solve the range problem with EVs. Larger batteries are not a solution for decades to come as they will cost too much for the average consumer that will only pay between 15,000 and 25,000 USD for a car BEV or not.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 13 October 2011 at 01:58 PM
Excellent idea but why were the Asian major manufacturers not included. Is the world going to have 2+ EV charging standards? Is this phase one of a future East-West trade war?
China, Japan, Korea, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Russia, Brazil etc currently produce as many if not more electrified vehicles as the 7 USA/EU manufacturers mentioned above.
Posted by: HarveyD | 13 October 2011 at 02:14 PM
Stopping every hour for a 12 minute recharge sounds like a really bad deal.
IN my opinion, what single leaf families should do, if they want to go on a long trip is switch to a diesel or gasoline car.
Nissan ought to bundle a 2 trips / year package with the leaf giving you 2 (or whatever) car swaps / year.
You would drive to a Nissan garage and swap cars. You would use your own insurance on the ICE car to keep costs down.
Possibly you would make your own car available for rental, possibly not.
Even 100Kw charging is too slow for long journeys, a petrol pump can transfer the equivalent of 22 MW which is why we can do a 2-3 minute, 700 mile top up in a diesel.
If you could drive for 4 hours @ 70 mph and refuel in 1 hour (lunch), you might have something, but stopping every hour for 15 minutes+ is a non-runner.
In my opinion, PHEVs are the way to go,even small battery ones - the trick being to keep the price down so lots of people can afford them,
Posted by: mahonj | 13 October 2011 at 02:31 PM
Mahonj
You might find you need to spend more time finding a rental car than the 12 minutes you need to do every hour possibly only once to reach your destination. Also most people will have something useful to do in these 12 minutes like shopping, doing e-mails, eat, restroom etc. I think 12 minutes every hour will work fine for most but not all. As you mention peer to peer car rentals (like GMs soon to come smart phone based system for all their telematics enabled cars) may be a good way to find a car in your neighborhood that suits your needs for shopping big or travel long distance at speed with three kids and luggage. Anyway 12 minutes will be much more convenient than the 24 minutes it currently takes with the 50kW charger for the Leaf.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 13 October 2011 at 03:06 PM
How about loading the BEV on a train for long distances. Having a car (BEV) at each end of a long journey is an asset and travelling long distances by high speed trains is more pleasant than by road.
Posted by: HarveyD | 13 October 2011 at 04:58 PM
@Mahonj,
This destroys the gas station model.
Even at 25 cents/Kwhr, that's only ~$5/customer, or ~$25/charging station per hour. I'm guessing the average gas pump sells about $250/hour at a busy station.
The new model will probably be to have charging stations in roadside restaurant parking lots, or rest stops, or tourist attractions, and such.
That way, the establishment can make money off their parking lot (previously not a profit center), instead of service stations complaining that 12-15 minutes per customer reduces their throughput too much.
Posted by: HealthyBreeze | 13 October 2011 at 06:06 PM
No mentioning wireless charging. Do they droped this charging method idea.
Posted by: Darius | 14 October 2011 at 01:03 AM
A lot will change:
Depending on battery size, you will have to stop every 60, 120 or 240 minutes to recharge if you are on a long run.
If it is every 2 or 4 hours, I can see people stopping for snacks/meals while waiting; If it is every hour or less, I do not see it working.
The AA will have to get "generator trucks" to give people a few KwH when they get stuck. This could be a good piece of business for them.
You could develop a "Valet car swap" program where I book a diesel for the weekend.
A guy drives to my house as planned and drops in a diesel and drives off in the EV. They can do it for car washing, I do not see why they cannot do it for car swapping.
Else still you could arrange to swap with a neighbour / family member.
The "West" is full of cars, many of which are not in use at any times, especially in 2+ car houses.
Many people would enjoy taking an electric car for the weekend (at least in the early stages, when they are a novelty).
If governments want to help, they could pass laws making it easier to swap cars in terms of insurance Etc.
Ditto for the EV companies.
Or else make PHEVs cheaper and more available, and we can continue on as with an ICE.
(Car sharing/swapping can be seen as a 2 car PHEV).
Posted by: mahonj | 14 October 2011 at 02:44 AM
I still favour a compact 'bum bag' which clips in place of the rear bumper, and contains a very small (opposed or rotary) 20 kW genset and 20 litres of diesel (for safety).
Most of the time you'd leave it at home, only using it for trips >100 miles. Or if you didn't own one you could rent one from the otherwise defunct fuel filling stations on the way.
Total mass would be about 80 kg, and car rear suspension and stability controls would be engineered to adapt to having it on or off automatically.
The consumer can then buy a cheap, compact EV with plenty of interior space which can be converted to fossil fuel use whenever the need arises. Kind of like a Volt in two bits.
Posted by: clett | 14 October 2011 at 07:58 AM
@Clett What about one that fits in a roof box ?
People already do this when they go on holidays.
The weight might be a problem, but if you limited the power to whatever it takes to run a car at 70mpg on a level road, it would be enough.
As clett says, use diesel for safety.
You could make a streamlined attachment for a Leaf to minimise wind resistance.
You could even consider a conformal fit (though it might look awful (not just weird)).
Posted by: mahonj | 14 October 2011 at 09:03 AM
The new reduced size Nissan FC is so small that is could be permanently fitted into a small BEV to make it a very clean running PHEV.
Posted by: HarveyD | 14 October 2011 at 12:47 PM
@HarveyD,
What kind of output on that Nissan FC? The impression I've gotten over the years is that FC don't toggle output very well, and their power density is not that great, which makes it seem like they will need supercapcitors or batteries as charge buffers.
Posted by: HealthyBreeze | 14 October 2011 at 01:44 PM
the Nissan FC is 85kW, way more than its needed.
Posted by: Herm | 15 October 2011 at 09:18 AM
The new reduced size, much lower cost Nissan FC is 85 Kw but it could certainly be downsized to 20 Kw or so to serve as a PHEV genset. A PHEV so equipped would not need very large batteries, something like 5 Kwh should do because the FC would start recharging the batteries as soon as you start the vehicle or even before. Range would be extended (at will) with large hydrogen tanks.
Posted by: HarveyD | 16 October 2011 at 08:26 AM
@Mahonj
Are you only interested in your own preferences, or for the general BEV market? How many people drive 4 hours at constant 70 mph on a daily or monthly basis? The requirement to charge for 15 minutes every hour on a 300 mile trip would not impede most people from buying an EV because they almost never do it. Of course lots of people won't buy without quick charge, but the ability to quick charge on trips will certainly have an impact on sales of EVs.
Frequent medium-range trips, from Washington to Baltimore for example, would require stopping once to charge. Most people could handle that. The small number of people who need greater range need to buy an ICE car. Still, the market for potential EV owners is commuter and local driving, where slow charging is acceptable for most people. Nobody wants to do car swapping.
The biggest problem with marketability of BEVs is propaganda. Constant talk about range makes people think their battery is going to go dead all the time. What really matters is the driving behavior (40 miles per day average), cost per mile of electrical energy compared with gasoline, and charging convenience. However, most people don't have time or intelligence to analyze these things.
Posted by: Zhukova | 16 October 2011 at 08:28 AM