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Japan To Standardize Electric Vehicle Chargers
JoshuaInNippon writes "Four major Japanese car manufacturers and one power company (Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, and Tokyo Electric) have teamed up with over 150 business and government entities in Japan to form a group to promote standardization in electric vehicle chargers and charging stations. The group hopes to leverage current Japanese electric vehicle technology and spread standardization throughout the country, as well as aim towards worldwide acceptance of their standardized charger model. In a very Japanese manner, the group has decided to call themselves 'CHAdeMO,' a play on the English words 'charge' and 'move,' as well as a Japanese pun that encourages tea-drinking while waiting the 15+ minutes it will take to charge one's vehicle battery."
It should be an international standard. All standard AC power systems offer a voltage around 220V, and the 50Hz/60Hz difference is routinely dealt with today.
Chargedonaygo. You've got charge, go, and chardonay, one of many alcoholic beverages you'll be able to drink and then sober up before your car is done charging since I have a hunch that our friendly oil industry lobbyist friends might make sure we're safe by limiting the amount of power that can be transferred.
Also because it will probably take much more time to charge the latest electric assault vehicle. Just because we're going to go electric doesn't mean we're going to lose our love of ridiculously huge and overpowered cars for the 20 minute commute on the freeway. After all, one of these days, we might have to drive over a mountain. We'll definitely want the eCanyonaro for that day.
You're pretty un-American yourself. You forgot to mention that the incompatible plugs must be heavily patented to avoid the possibility of adapters and covered with safety stickers saying stuff like "DO NOT PUT IN BABY'S MOUTH".
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
You should patent this idea and sell it to the North American auto makers. You are probably too late though.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
You've discovered the preposterous motion machine!
E-vehicle companies are looking at commercial charging: 400-some volts, 60 AMPs. You can recharge during a meal instead of overnight then. You wont have these in houses, but at workplaces and businesses.
20 minute commute? What metropolitan area to you live in? Everyone I know drives for at least an hour, sometimes up to 2 hours each way in traffic.
And all for cheap housing. If we could somehow migrate away from suburban and exurban sprawl and actually create large, comfortable urban lodging for families close to work, it'd be no problem to own big landlubber vehicles so you can have your weekend fun out in West Virginia... you'd probably save more gas by living closer to work than by buying extra fuel efficient cars for every family member.
But this is America... we're more in love with our cars than the place where we live, I guess.
/ moved next to a subway station and got rid of the 2nd car // then found another nice job close to home and didn't even need the subway station anymore
We Americans need to come up with our own, incompatible, standard for charging vehicles.
No problem dude we already have at least two incompatible charger standards.
SAE J1772 and IEC 62196
For every standard there is an equal, and opposite, standard?
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
It's a sad day when it rates a news article when someone uses common sense. *sigh*
How's that going to help you at home? What if your car runs outta power at home after sitting for awhile, etc...?
Frankly, I don't think it should only be one or the other...how about both? You can charge from an outlet when available, and swap out at a station while on the road?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
>>>create large, comfortable urban lodging for families close to work
Live in the concrete hell that is a modern American city? No. I'd probably have an attack of claustrophobia. Also your concept of "large" is incompatible with having to squeeze those ~15 million ex-suburbanites into the small area a city occupies. You'd be left with homes about the size of one dorm per family (like in Asimov's Caves of Steel).
Now maybe if you moved the workplaces to the suburbs, rather than concentrating them all inside the city, you could find a solution. I've never understood why all companies want to locate themselves in Baltimore when there's plenty of room in nearby Frederick or Bel Air or Annapolis.
I'd be willing to live in any of those towns.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
"Why wait around for the batteries to charge when you could have standard interchangeable battery packs?"
This comes up every time rechargeable cars comes up, and it is still just as wrong now as the first time.
First of all, not all batteries will be the same. Most of the battery chemistries in use for electric cars have a finite cycle life. So, you pull into the station with your brand-spanking-new, only one charge/discharge cycle battery, and you get it swapped out for the battery I left there with 10000 cycles on it, that has a quarter the capacity. True, you could have the pack record and report its charge cycle history, but that doesn't stop the fact that the only "charged" battery the station has right now is my hammered to death pack, and you are getting screwed on the deal.
Second of all, these packs are HEAVY. Not just the 40 kg your gas tank is, but more like several HUNDRED kilograms. They have to be an integral part of the car's frame, or else in a collision they are going to play Hulk and "HULK SMASH!" their way through the rest of the car (and likely you!). Making something that is BOTH well attached to the car's frame AND easily removable is like making a pocket sized 52" display.
Third of all is the machinery to pull that pack out of your car. It has to be automated, or it has to be operated by a trained operator. When was the last time you had somebody else pump your gas? OK, so skip the trained operator, it has to be automated such that a) BillyBob can "run" it, b) it can handle the car being parked at any number of weird angles to the system, c) it won't crush Little Billy who gets in the way, and d) it POSITIVELY CANNOT have ANY chance of scratching the paint, because BillyBob *WILL* accuse the station of just that, even when the "scratch" has doe fur and hoofprints!
Fourth of all is the issue of what happens if you run out of power out on the road. Right now it is no big deal for [AAA|The Highway Patrol|a passing motorist|A tow truck] to get you a gallon or two of gas so you can make it to a gas station. Good luck with swapping the battery pack in the road. OR you have to have a charging port + a special portable charging system to get you the equivalent of that "couple of gallons" of gas.
I see you are a fan of mine, and I hope my pointing this out won't change that, but - there are good reasons swapping batteries, while great for your phone, doesn't scale to your car.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Yes, and no.
The iPhone can use USB as a power source, but (unless they've added it) it lacks one of the standard USB connectors on the PHONE side.
In other words, I have a charging cable I bought for $5 in my car. One side has a "cigarette lighter" plug, the other has a USB-mini plug that plugs into my phone.
I fully realize it's possible to charge an iPhone over a USB connector, and it's the same connection that provides power (my wife has an iPod Touch). But that requires a special cable - the PHONE side is not USB standard.
I guess you're stupid, ignorant or a bigot.
It is possible to disagree with someone, or attempt to point out some information you think that person might not have, without dropping to the level of insult.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
Which is more efficient: induction charging, like old Chevrolets, or direct dry contact charging?
From what I remember of my induction charging toothbrush it was safe but sure got hot to the touch.
Kriston