Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2023 - 11

TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS
STANDARDS
SAE to standardize Tesla's NACS charging connector
SAE International announced that it will
standardize the Tesla-developed North
American Charging Standard (NACS)
charging connector for EVs. The global
engineering organization that engages
nearly 200,000 engineers, technical
experts and volunteers said in a press
release that it will work to help with
deployment of the NACS connector, an
alternative to the longstanding SAE
J1772 Combined Charging System
(CCS) connector, after Ford, General
Motors and a number of EV publiccharging
equipment suppliers recently
indicated they intend to adopt the
NACS connector design.
" Standardizing the NACS connector
will provide certainty, expanded choice,
reliability and convenience to manufacturers
and suppliers and, most of all,
increase access to charging for consumers, "
said Frank Menchaca, president of
Sustainable Mobility Solutions, an innovation
arm of SAE's parent company,
Fullsight. The organization in a statement
credited the U.S.'s Joint Office of
Energy and Transportation for fostering
the SAE-Tesla partnership and " expediting
plans to standardize NACS - an
important step in building an interoperable
national charging network that will
work for all EV drivers. "
Ford announced in late May that it
would adopt the NACS charge connector
and equip next-generation EVs with
charge points to accept that connector;
Tesla's North
American Charging
Standard connector,
at left, is being
standardized by the
SAE after automakers
like Ford and GM
signed on to use it.
The industry standard
J1772/CCS connector
is at right.
GM weeks later confirmed a similar
strategy. SAE said that the standardization
process is the next step to establish
a consensus-based approach " for maintaining
NACS and validating its ability
to meet performance and interoperability
criteria. " Although Tesla dubbed the
NACS connector a " standard, " it is not
one that had been reached through
industry consensus. The SAE standardization
process is intended to assure
reliable and consistent performance for
any EV model or charging network.
" The new SAE NACS connector stanFrank
Menchaca,
president of SAE
International's
Sustainability
Mobility Solutions
unit, said that
standardizing the
NACS connector
" will provide
certainty, expanded
choice, reliability
and convenience
to manufacturers
and suppliers and...
consumers. "
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
dard will be developed on an expedited
timeframe, " the organization said, calling
the arrangement one of several key initiatives
to strengthen North America's
charging infrastructure, including the
SAE-ITC's Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
for cyber-secure charging. SAE also said
that in close cooperation with the U.S.'s
network of National Laboratories, it also is
contributing to charger reliability design
for the national ChargeX consortium,
which according to the U.S Joint Office of
Energy and Transportation has " commitments
to participate " from more than a
score of automotive OEMs and charging
companies, including Ford, GM, Stellantis,
BMW of North America, Electrify
America, Chargepoint and EVgo.
" Taken together, these efforts will
contribute substantially to SAE's commitment
to secure, clean and connected
transportation, accessible to everyone, "
said David L. Schutt, CEO, SAE
International. " We're delighted to do
our part in aligning the excellent efforts
of industry with those of government
entities like the Joint Office to advance
sustainable mobility on a national level. "
Bill Visnic
August 2023 11
BOTH IMAGES: SAE/LINDSAY BROOKE
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2023

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