The United States Council for Automotive Research is set to formulate new standards for the high-voltage wiring and connections in plug-in automobiles. The alliance, which includes Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation, will be meeting to discuss the details at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) conference in Detroit on April 20-23.
The new standards will cover specifications for systems running up to 400V, replacing the old standards for wiring capacities of only 20V. This will allow plug-in manufacturers to avoid the expensive design and testings costs associated with proprietary hardware development, and will greatly ease the process of finding component manufacturers. Additionally, consumers will benefit from the interoperability, allowing customers of one company to use charging stations and the electrical grid of other companies.
As U.S. automakers continue to focus on electric-vehicle production, standards setting was only a matter of time. The new specifications will benefit not only them, but utilities, consumers, and presumably, foreign automakers looking to gain further share in the American plug-in vehicle market.
Update: The standard being discussed by the SAE task force might be finalized as early as fall 2009. The J1772 plug (concept shown at right) is designed to attach to compliant plug-in vehicles and supports single-phase electrical systems up to 240V and 70A. These are common in North America and Japan, and it therefore won’t require the use of expensive transformers. In Europe, a 400V plug standard was recently announced and is supported by the European divisions of Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Fiat, Toyota and Mitsubishi.
The American J1772 is set to be 43mm in diameter and have 5 pins. It is capable of withstanding harsh elements and enduring 10,000 charging cycles. It will also have the capability to communicate over power lines, allowing the indentification of vehicles and the automatic handling of charging.
So far, Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Nissan, Toyota, and Tesla have signed on and are supporting the standard.
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