Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 12

TECHNOLOGY REPORT
EV CHARGING
Automaker coalition plans high-power charging network
published an estimate that 182,000 DC
fast chargers will be needed to support
30- to 42 million EVs that could be on
the road as early as 2030.
The release said that both public and
private money would be used to fund
the network.
Hyundai, one of the new charging coalition members, won a International Forum Design Award
for its E-pit charging-station concept, which the company said was " inspired by the pit stops of
Formula One racing. "
In an announcement that could change
the balance of power in the still-formative
EV charging-station race, seven
global automakers said they will work
together to create an expansive DCfast-charging
network that would mean
high-powered charging at far more locations
in North America.
Stating a goal of installing at least
30,000 high-powered DC charging
points in urban and highway locations
were General Motors, Stellantis, Honda,
BMW Group, Hyundai, Kia and
Mercedes-Benz Group. The group did
not say when the full number of chargers
would be operational, but did say
the first stations should open in the
summer of 2024 in the United States.
In a nod to the recent adoption of
Tesla's North American Charging
Standard (NACS) by other automakers,
the stations will be fitted with both the
NACS connector and the SAE standard
12 September 2023
Combined Charging System (CCS)/
J1772 connector. SAE is working to publish
a standard for the NACS as J3400.
Addressing a common complaint
about non-Tesla charging locations as
they exist now, the group said the new
locations would deliver " an elevated customer
experience, " including improved
reliability, appealing locations with amenities
to use while charging and use of
renewable energy where practical.
The announcement said the joint
venture's goal is to become the leading
network of reliable, high-powered
charging stations in North America.
Right now, that title belongs to Tesla
and its roughly 2,000 locations running
about 17,000 chargers.
The U.S. Dept. of Energy reports
that the entire U.S. public market comprises
32,000 DC fast chargers for the
roughly 2.3 million EVs on the road.
The National Renewable Energy Lab
NACS update: Task force gets
to work
On the SAE Tomorrow Today podcast,
two standards leaders talked about the
expedited process to standardize NACS
and the state of ground vehicle standards
themselves as the industry sees
developments coming at a faster pace.
Christian Thiele, SAE's director of
global ground vehicle standards, talked
to podcast host Grayson Brulte about
the challenging environment. " There's a
technology revolution that's happening
right now. It's all new technology -
emerging technology - which makes it
somewhat challenging to standardize. "
Rodney McGee, the chairman of the
J3400 NACS task force, said other standards
organizations weren't able to
move as quickly as SAE has on standardizing
the Tesla connector. " I was
recently in an IEC [International
Electrotechnical Commission] meeting
where they were discussing when they
could get the NACS connector into the
IEC standards, and they were discussing
what seemed to be the more likely option,
which was in 2029, or the closer
option, which was in 2026, [but] didn't
seem to be open to them. "
Thiele addressed how quickly the
NACS standard could come together.
" We're looking at publishing something
inside of about six months and it'll be a
technical information report toward the
end of this year. Then we will vet it out, "
he said, adding that a best-practices
publication would come out a few
months later, followed by final vetting.
Listen to the entire SAE Tomorrow
Today episode at: https://www.sae.org/
podcasts/tomorrow-today/episodes/
sae-to-standardize-tesla-nacs-connector
Chris Clonts
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
HYUNDAI

https://www.sae.org/podcasts/tomorrow-today/episodes/sae-to-standardize-tesla-nacs-connector https://www.sae.org/podcasts/tomorrow-today/episodes/sae-to-standardize-tesla-nacs-connector https://www.sae.org/podcasts/tomorrow-today/episodes/sae-to-standardize-tesla-nacs-connector

Automotive Engineering - September 2023

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