CHADEMO MOJO: A CHAdeMO DC quick-charging plug at a station in Vacaville, Calif.
Image: COURTESY OF C-CARTOM, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
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To most Americans electric cars are as new a concept as the first combustion vehicles were to horse-and buggy-drivers in the early years of the 20th century. But to the organizations around the world that have been working to make modern electric cars a consumer reality, it has taken decades to get to this point. In fact, the electric car industry is old enough now that it has developed its own internal conflicts—the biggest of which centers on vehicle charging. Unfortunately, engineering groups and consortiums are developing different standards for a quick jolt, and if the differences are not resolved, the burgeoning electric vehicle industry may stumble.
The goal, of course, is to enable electric-car owners to charge their vehicles as effortlessly as they would fill up at a gas pump. Common standards are what makes that possible. In the U.S. the organization tasked with developing these charging standards is the Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE). In January 2010 the SAE approved the so-called J1772 standard governing slow- to moderate-speed electric car charging. Every major electric car manufacturer, and most start-up ones as well, have committed to using J1772 in their existing and future products. In 2011 more than 15,000 of these J1772-compatible stations are planned for installation in early deployment communities around the U.S.
But the J1772 standard accounts only for charging at relatively low speeds. On a 110- to 120-volt circuit it can add about eight kilometers of driving range for every hour of charging, and on a 220- to 240-volt circuit, it can sustain between 24 and 100 kilometers of driving range for every hour of charging (depending on individual vehicle and station specifications).
To create more parity between electric and combustion engine cars, the industry has been developing so-called DC fast charging—which can nearly top off an electric car's battery pack in less than half an hour. (The typical range of a fully charged car is 160 kilometers.) This type of charging requires a gas pump–size station attached to an industrial power supply. Although the size and voltage make DC fast charging unsuitable for the home garage, it should be sufficient at commercial charging stations.
Two competing standards
A few pioneers have forged ahead with this fast charging, with Nissan and Mitsubishi taking the lead. Yet the standard they have chosen—called CHAdeMO and developed by a consortium of Japanese companies—will soon face competition from another standard under development by the SAE.
The SAE expects to have its DC fast-charging standard ready within nine months, and carmakers and station manufacturers should have equipment samples in the fall to begin their internal testing, says Peter Byk, an SAE engineering specialist. The final standard should come by the end of this year and no later than the first quarter of 2012.
It will be at least 2013 before the SAE standard starts showing up in consumer vehicles. In the meantime there will be nearly 700 CHAdeMO stations in Japan, 500 in the U.S. and 300 in Europe by the end of 2011. By the time the first SAE–compliant DC fast-charging–equipped cars hit the road there could be perhaps thousands of CHAdeMO stations in the U.S. alone, according to John Gartner, a senior research analyst with Pike Research and author of an upcoming report on the state of DC fast-charging technology around the globe.
"As Nissan and Mitsubishi start selling electric cars in mass volume, they want to provide the functionality that DC fast-charging entails, so the initial products to hit the North American market went with what was the closest available standard and that was CHAdeMO," Gartner says.
Nissan began selling its LEAF all-electric car last November and has plans to sell more than 200,000 of them a year by 2013. Mitsubishi began selling the all-electric i-MiEV in select locations around the globe last year and will start selling it on the North American market at the end of 2011. Adding DC fast-charging capability to both of those vehicles is an extra cost option at the time of purchase, and many consumers have opted for it, especially on the West Coast where CHAdeMO infrastructure will be widespread.
Given the sales targets of both companies, the potential for CHAdeMO adoption could be on the order of tens of thousands to perhaps more than 100,000 vehicles by the time the SAE fast-charging standard is available in its first consumer electric vehicle.
Universality has its benefits
The current SAE fast-charging design calls for a hybrid combo that would be backward compatible with the J1772 standard but would also support DC fast-charging through a universal cable.
A universal charging standard has benefits in terms of cost savings and ease of engineering, and according to some, the SAE standard also has technical improvements over CHAdeMO designed to make it future-proof and safer to boot. BMW, which in 2013 will start selling their first mass-market all-electric vehicle, the i3, has been working in close collaboration with the SAE to develop the universal charging standard.
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8 Comments
Add CommentSince Nissan was the first to come out with the supercharge stations and they seem to work just fine and they have already spread them around the world. SAE should stop being so stupid and causing problems and delays in the market and adapt to Nissan's supercharge technology. Nissan is already there and proven to work, so why does SAE want to do an about face on an already proven technology. SAE can implement their beliefs into charging stations powered by solar panels. Let the people decide which technology is best...Nissan's or SAE's. With Nissan's technology, you can supercharge your car from home. With SAE's, you have to push your drained car over to a DC station...probably miles away from where your car went dead.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think I will go with Nissan and they can put one of their supercharge stations in the trunk of their car and I will install it in my garage and charge my Nissan Leaf from home and if I run low on power while out on the road, I know Nissan will have a supercharge station installed on the road close by.
Almost every gas station in the country already sells two varieties of gasoline (plus a mix of the two), plus often diesel and sometimes propane. I don't see why they could not have two or more charging options.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisskiphuffman is correct and here in California they make the gas stations change out systems every couple of years to meet knew requirements. So as long as a station has a power supply changing chord ends should be even easier they can even have more then one just like stations that have diesel and gas. Better yet who needs gas stations the California building code already gives a builder credit for building charging stations into their parking plans and since large commercial building already have massive power supplies that a gas station wouldn't we can by-pass them completely
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's great how the entire article basically disproves its own alarmist headline. The adoption of electric cars isn't threatened by this charging standard disagreement any more than the adoption of next-generation home video was threatened with the competition between blu-ray and HD-DVD. CHAdeMO has an early start, but the SAE standard MAY or MAY NOT offer better safety and lower costs. Until SAE finalizes the standard, electric cars will either be CHAdeMO-compatible or they won't use level III charging. Besides, probably 90% of charging or more will happen at home with the J-1772 that everyone has pretty much adopted already.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat article, even if the comments don't quite get it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is perhaps worth pointing out the benefits of Chevy's approach with the Volt. The Volt charges with the J1772 connector and no DC fast charging. Frankly the Volt doesn't need DC fast charging because it can always turn on the gasoline engine for longer distances. Therefore, slow charging overnight with J1772 is perfectly satisfactory for Chevy.
My wife and I have been driving electric for three years, putting in over 39,000 pure electric miles.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe bought our first EV, a used 2002 Toyota RAV4-EV, in July of 2008. It has a 100-mile range and uses a wacky charging standard which is not available in public stations within 500 miles of our house. Despite a total lack of charging options outside our garage, the RAV4-EV became our primary vehicle as soon as we got it, and it accounts for the majority of our electric miles.
After getting our second vehicle, a Tesla Roadster with a 240-mile range and support for 240V charging near the top of the J1772 Level 2 standard, we found all of our driving needs were covered. We sold our last gas vehicle once we were sure we didn't need a gas car to meet our driving needs.
In our experience, electric vehicles are awesome for local driving even with no public charging infrastructure at all.
We made the complete conversion for gas to pure electric vehicles without ever needing a DC Quick Charge station. Not everyone will be able to do this, but lack of DC Quick Charging is not a barrier to EV adoption for local driving. Since 60% of Americans have multiple cars and a garage where charging can occur at home, there are tens of millions of households that could be doing their daily driving in an EV, with a conventional or hybrid vehicle for longer trips.
The first few models of electric vehicles don't have to meet every driving need to be successful, any more than any single gas-burning model needs to meet every driving need.
If it takes a year or two for the DC Quick Charging standard to get settled, that's not a barrier to the automakers selling all of the EVs they can produce in the meantime. That said, if SAE wants to improve on the CHAdeMO standard, they better hurry up and do it.
Swappable batteries need to become part of the mix.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1-Swap out in less than a minute.
2-Solar charging of these batteries allows for overcast or cloudy days. It gives the consumer other options which include a second or third charged battery.
3-Certainly commercial establishments similar to the gas stations of today can and will be used to swap out batteries. These stations would have hundreds ready based on a precharging strategy that takes full advantage of sunny days to "get ahead of the charging curve".
Having solar rooftops accomplish may at least 3 things.
1-Free charging for the lift of the vehicle.
2-Controlling the cost, Consumer owns the rooftop unit an is not affected by price increases.
3-The strain on the grid will be watered down and transmission costs will be lowered overall.
The cost for these units that incorporate solar ink type products will continue coming down at an extremely fast rate,, The solar ink processes now in the works in several countries is fascinating.
I do hope, that the different manufacturer of electric cars agree on one design worldwide so the cars can be connected to the power supply wherever it is. Remember the many different handy power supplies ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDr.Kamlander@aon.at