Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we pride ourselves on being forward thinking and actively green! And that means we’re early adopters of new automotive technologies for hybrid and all-electric vehicles. Indeed, Tesla developed their first electric cars in our neighborhood before moving to Palo Alto just down the street and our general region boasts over 500 electric charging stations. So when the San Jose Mercury brought the brewing Standards War between the SAE J1772:2012 and CHAdeMO, I was immediately interested.
At first blush, it looks like a skirmish between the Asian (Japanese) automakers and those in the U.S. and Europe. The fight is over the type of plug used when quick charging battery powered electric vehicles.
The CHAdeMO standard was developed by an industry consortium formed by TEPCO (the Japanese Power Company) and four automakers (Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru’s parent company and Toyota). TEPCO makes the DC connector for quick charging and three of the four automakers have developed battery powered cars so far. Of course, TEPCO has developed patented technology and a specification for high-voltage, high-current automotive fast charging that looks to be the basis for the standard.
In the meantime, the SAE International (formerly the Society for Auromotive Engineering) J1772 has been around since 2001 (the latest revision is from February, 2012). It’s no surprise to me that the development of the original standard was driven by the California Air Resources Board. I lived in Los Angeles for a while back in the 1980’s and air quality has been an issue in this state for a very long time…
The SAE Recommended Practice covers the general physical, electrical, functional and performance requirements to facilitate conductive charging of electric vehicles in North America. This document includes operational requirements and the functional and dimensional requirements for the vehicle inlet and mating connector.
And it is the connector that is at the root of this battle. Two different, competing standards with two different, competing connectors. And since we have the investment in charging stations starting already, we’re sure to have confusion when early adopter car owners go to “fill ‘er up!”
Sadly, there’s still more ways to charge your new Electric Vehicle than even these two competing standards. Tesla (a home town favorite, I admit) has taken to developing it’s own charger. And VDE (Association for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies) in Germany also has a standard that is used by the makers of a number of European prototypes and that has been submitted to IEC for adoption as an International Standard.
Here in California, we’re hedging our bets, with the state of California installing fast-charging stations that support both CHAdeMO and the SAE fast-charge system. And the Nissan Leaf similarly has the connector for both chargers.
Meantime, this has gotten me interested in Standards Wars, so expect more blogs in the future on the topic. Meantime, we have all SAE standards (including SAE J1772) for sale on the Document Center website, www.document-center.com. And you’re welcome to contact us at any time by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com). We’re here to assist you with your standards questions and requirements.
