The Senior Vice President for Research & Development at Volvo Cars, Dr Peter Mertens, has called for the automotive industry to create a global standard for electric vehicle charging infrastructure — in order to pave the path toward wider adoption — according to a recent press release.
In order to support its push for a global standard, Volvo Cars has opted to support the Charging Interface Initiative, according to the new press release. The Charging Interface Initiative is “a consortium of stakeholders that was founded to establish their Combined Charging System (CCS) as the standard for charging battery-powered vehicles.”
“We see that a shift towards fully electric cars (EVs) is already underway, as battery technology improves, costs fall, and charging infrastructure is put in place,” stated Dr Mertens. “But while we are ready from a technology perspective, the charging infrastructure is not quite there yet. To really make range anxiety a thing of the past, a globally standardized charging system is sorely needed.”
The press release provides more:
The Combined Charging System, which will offer both regular and fast charging capabilities, makes electric car ownership increasingly practical and convenient — especially in urban environments which are ideal for electric vehicles.
It combines single-phase with rapid three-phase charging, using alternating current at a maximum of 43 kilowatts (kW), as well as direct-current charging at a maximum of 200 kW and the future possibility of up to 350 kW — all in a single system. The Charging Interface Initiative is currently in the process of drawing up requirements for the evolution of charging-related standards and certification for use by car makers around the globe.
“We are very happy to support and be involved in the setting of standards for electric vehicle charging systems. The lack of such a standard is one of the main obstacles for growing electric vehicles’ share of the market,” noted Dr Mertens.
Lack of charging standardization is arguably a real issue, but it really remains to be seen what will emerge as the standard over the coming years and decades.
Image Credit: Volvo
If CCS is to be adopted as the standard, then it’ll be a big mess for a long while with all the type 2 and chademo cars and chargers already out there. But we definitely need a single format for the vast majority of cars, even if Tesla continues to surge ahead.
That could probably be solved by some adapters.
Standardisation has to happen, but it should not be CCS (or CHAdeMO) connections for DC charging. They’re rather horrible – clunky, hard to use connectors and – despite their bulk – rather unimpressive power.
Type 2 connectors can support fast DC charging; Euro and China-spec Teslas already do this. Mode 4 over Type 2 should’ve been part of IEC 62196 years ago. Someone needs to pull their finger out, and forget about CCS.