A single fast charging standard is best for electric vehicle owners – just like a single gasoline fuel hose has been best for gasoline vehicle owners. The gasoline industry could have evolved such that each car maker mandated a unique gasoline blend, that’s sold only through manufacturer owned gasoline stations,…
Last week Elon Musk laid a bombshell during the Tesla Motors shareholders meeting, one that I barely mentioned in my report. I kind of brushed over it, writing a couple paragraphs about whether Tesla Motors should rebrand itself as a B Corporation because the company is seeking to create so…
Will electric car charging always look as it does today – a few charging stations here and there? When there are hundreds of thousands of electric cars sold per year, won’t the current electric vehicle charging model be swamped? Maybe a company needs to reconceptualize the whole model? The rise…
Some good news for CHAdeMO in Europe is that the European Union has adopted a draft proposal supporting the “Dual Standard Approach”. While the Directive requires that all DC Fast Charging infrastructure support the Combo Charging System, through the EN62196-2 plug, it allows such charging stations to also support CHAdeMO. …
It would be wonderful if there were one fast charging standard for electric cars. We’ve collectively gone through periods with dueling standards, and it was painful. But, the current environment has several fast charging standards (CHAdeMO, China, Combined Charging System, and Tesla) each of which are vying for dominance. Recently…
Today, Honda launched a new project – the Honda Smart Home – that’s a glimpse into the future of buildings and transportation. And, it’s a future that isn’t terribly far away because most of the project uses off-the-shelf equipment. The idea is to look beyond zero emission vehicles to a…
Electric cars are more useful when they can be quickly charged. Case in point is the Tesla Model S, which can gain about 300 miles of range per hour of charging, making it the first electric car that’s suitable for proper American style Road Trips. The “range anxiety” bugaboo largely…
The nice thing about Standards Organizations is that there’s so many of them. If your standard gets rejected by one organization, such as the Society for Automotive Engineers, you can go to another standards committee, like the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), to get ratification. That’s what has just happened in…
In North America, Japan and Europe, a little standards battle over fast charging connectors and protocols is brewing between the car makers. The Japanese carmakers are pushing CHAdeMO, the European and North American carmakers settled on the SAE Combined Charging System (a.k.a. Frankenplug), and Tesla is going it’s own way…
In California, eVgo is beginning to build their charging infrastructure (finally – aren’t they a little behind schedule?) and the good news for BMW i3 and Chevy Spark EV owners is the infrastructure being built supports both CHAdeMO and Combo Charging System fast charging. But the situation just picks at…
In late 2013, Nissan started funding CHAdeMO charger installation across the US as part of a larger plan to rapidly expand CHAdeMO infrastructure. Nissan, and the Japanese automakers, are continuing to press forward on CHAdeMO adoption despite the fact that the SAE and European automakers have chosen the SAE Combo…
A significant demonstration of electric vehicles at a charging station interacting with smart grid protocols was just made, showing significant vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capabilities. First – it’s talking about a new DC fast charging station that uses the SAE Combo Charging system a.k.a. SAE DC Fast charge. This is the newer…
Those of us who drive electric cars (or motorcycles) every day know the recharging infrastructure is weak. The question is how do we get the process underway to beef up the charging infrastructure? AND, what organization should fund and own the infrastructure? Over on whitehouse.gov a new petition was just…
Is electricity a Fuel? Should electric vehicle charging stations be located next to gasoline stations? Recently Fastned and ABB announced a large fast charging network to be built throughout the Netherlands. It will be the largest yet nation-scale electric car fast charging network, comprising over 200 such stations which will…
The long-awaited update to the Tesla Supercharger network includes adding many new stations and decreasing the time required for a full recharge. Thursday gave us the latest in a series of announcements by Tesla Motors, giving updates on the Supercharger network for the Model S. The Supercharger network rollout so…
