Volvo has called for all electric cars to make use of a common charging infrastructure.
This is in line with the company’s ambitions to roll-out a mass production electric vehicle by 2019, as well as plug-in hybrid variants of its entire range on SPA and CMA architectures by decade’s end.
Volvo is part of a consortium of EV stakeholders (not including Tesla) dubbed Charging Interface Initiative, which it will utilize as a vehicle to implement this goal.
The company’s Senior VP for Research and Development, Dr Peter Mertens is leading the charge:
“We see that a shift towards fully electric cars is already underway, as battery technology improves, costs fall and charging infrastructure is put in place,” he said. “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 proposed Combined Charging System offers fast-charging as well as regular charging ability, with charging output ranging from 43kW Alternating Current (AC) TO 200kW DC, with the scope of upping the ante to 300kW. This compares to Tesla’s 120kW Superchargers, which Elon Musk seems happy to open up to other manufacturers, as long as they pay for their proportion of usage.
By Mitchell Jones
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