ACEA, the European car manufacturers’ association, recently called for a common electric vehicle charging standard to be adopted by all automakers. This would be the ideal solution for a unified infrastructure, which in turn, would further boost EV sales.
No sooner had the association’s call been published and seven major manufacturers from Europe and the U.S. but oddly enough, not from Japan, namely Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen, announced an agreement to support “a harmonized single-port fast charging approach” for electric vehicles in Europe and North America.
The seven companies agreed to use the “HomePlug Green Phy” as the common communication protocol for charging their EVs, as it will facilitate easy integration in future “smart” grid applications.
The carmakers say that their decision was based on analysis of existing charging strategies, ergonomics of the connector and preferences of US and European customers.
This charging solution is backwards compatible both with the J1772 connector that is standard in the US and the European IEC 62196 Type 2.
