Automotive Engineering - October 2023 - 31

Q&
SAE International announced in late June, 2023, that it intended
to standardize the Tesla-developed North American
Charging Standard (NACS) EV charging connector for North
America. SAE then created the J3400 NACS Task Force to
expedite creation of the J3400 NACS Electric Vehicle
Coupler standard.
Grayson Brulte, host of SAE's Tomorrow Today podcast, subsequently
interviewed Christian Thiele, Director, Global Ground
Vehicle Standards, SAE International, and Dr. Rodney McGee,
Ph.D., P.E. Chairman, SAE J3400 NACS Task Force and Chief
Engineer at the University of Delaware, regarding the work of
the J3400 Task Force and other
aspects of standardization as
electrification technology proliferates
throughout the light- and
heavy-duty vehicle sectors. This
Q&A is an abbreviated portion
of that interview and the podcast
can be heard in its entirety
at: https://www.sae.org/podcasts/tomorrow-today/episodes/sae-to-standardize-teslanacs-connector
You're
going to standardize
NACS. What does that process
look like? How will you take
what Tesla built with the NACS
and standardize it for across the industry
for use?
McGee: Typically, a lot of standards start
at the very conceptual stage where experts
basically say, how do we want this
to work? And so you literally start with a
blank piece of paper and then you get
some proposals and then, in, you basically
coalesce on a single sort of solution.
That process typically takes some time
because you're creating something where
there was nothing before - or there were
things before, but they were different,
had different requirements.
The NACS standardization process is a
bit different: today that connector represents
both a majority of use in EVs and also
a [large] market share in charging stations,
especially DC [fast-] charging stations. So
what we're going be doing in the standards
is capturing the existing mechanical connector
to make sure that when other manufacturers
want to be interoperable with it,
they have a standard to follow that will ensure
that things work well.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
Christian Thiele,
Director, Global Ground Vehicle
Standards, SAE International
A
Managing the evolution of the EV charging standard
The J3400 Standard covers only the connector, not other aspects
of the charging process?
Thiele: The J3400 is just focused on the charger unit - the fixture
itself. We have other standards that are working for the
interoperability point of view, the communication point of view.
The standards back in the day were always focused just on the
vehicle; the vehicle was a standalone entity. Now there are
communication protocols that are happening with the vehicle,
with the people, with infrastructure, with other places.
The standard for the NACS connector is going to go faster
than your " traditional " standards
process. How is that going
to be achieved?
McGee: I think Tesla realized
they needed to have a standard
that was published by an organization
- we use the term
SDO, Standards Development
Organization. They looked at
the options in front of them.
The two [SDOs] that would cover
this kind of area are the IEC
(International Electrotechnical
Commission) and SAE.
Some of the international standards
can take quite some time.
In SAE, the standards are developed
by individual experts from a
Dr. Rodney McGee, Ph.D.,
P.E. Chairman, SAE J3400 NACS
Task Force and Chief Engineer
at the University of Delaware
" The NACS
standardization
process is a bit
different: today that
connector represents
both a majority of
use in EVs and also a
[large] market share
in charging stations. "
variety internationally from different suppliers,
different automakers, general interests,
and there's a much shorter process to take
into account revisions.
Also, NACS is unique in that it already
exists in large numbers in the real world.
We're not starting from a blank piece of
paper. The SAE process can, when there
is consensus on what we're doing - and
in this case, there is, because it's already
out there, especially when we talk about
the mechanical coupler - move much
quicker than would be typical.
What is that timeline for the standard?
Has SAE or the committee made a public
statement around a timeline?
Thiele: We're looking at publishing something
inside of about six months and it'll be
a technical information report. Ideally a standard
usually is developed anywhere from 16
to 18 months as typical timeframe. We have
been as quick as 10 to 11 months and this will
fall around the 11-month window.
October 2023 31
FROM LEFT: SAE; UNIV. OF DELAWARE

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

Automotive Engineering - October 2023

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