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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."
We Americans need to come up with our own, incompatible, standard for charging vehicles.
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
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.
They do have a standard:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/09/10/24/033257/Universal-Phone-Charger-Approved-By-UN-Body
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
So, what does the connector look like? I bet it's a tentacle of some sort.
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.
I went through this for a long time. I'm done.
Many newer phones use a USB-mini or USB-micro port for charging. Not all of them, of course, but you could shop for phones that have it, and vote with your dollars.
My Blackberry uses a USB-mini, which means I can charge it off my laptop, and car chargers are just a few bucks. USB charging capability was also one of the major criteria when we shopped for a new phone for my wife (one of the disqualifying points for an iPhone). Her phone also uses USB-mini. My bluetooth headset uses USB-micro, so I keep an adapter near the charging shelf so I can charge that when I need to off the same adapter. The only oddball device is my wife's iPod Touch.
As a bonus, the USB-mini port allows us to:
- Connect the phone to computers at the same time the phone is charging, on the same cable. This is both for Internet access (tethering) and for copying music, pictures, etc to and from the phones (USB mass media support on the SD chips we put into the phones).
- Plug the phone into her car stereo (which has a standard USB port) and, since both phones support mass media (like a USB thumb drive), listen to music from our phones. Also while the phone is charging.
Overall, I'd say next time you shop for a phone, make sure it has a standard connector that can be used for simultaneous power and data. USB's about the only game in that particular town right now, though if you want to go all-Apple the "Apple Connector" might be your chosen standard.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
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.........
"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
"Ask your doctor if umbridge is right for you. Side effects include elevated blood pressure, agitation, sweating, swearing, reddened vision, frothing at the mouth, and in some cases, death."
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
That's mostly a sourcing problem. If you only have a 20Amp source, you can't ever charge at a rate greater than 20Amps. The thing is (and this varies quite a bit in the specifics with battery type), as a rule of thumb for the first 80% you can charge at extremely high charge rates. This is because internal resistance builds as you put charge into the battery.
You've probably seen 15minute quick chargers for AA NiMH and NiCAD batteries. These charge the first 80% or so with extremely high currents and then drop down to some fraction of C after that point as it builds towards full charge. Lithium based batteries can generally sustain even higher initial charge currents than Nickel based batteries, but are more prone to explosion if you don't monitor changes in heat and internal resistance accurately. So the 15minutes quoted by the OP is totally realistic if the charge station could meet the current demands (ie, is at an electrical substation, has battery or super cap packs charged during off-hours on site, etc), but there really is no reason for the OP to have said 15+ instead of 3+, 60-, or "time it takes to charge".
Keep in mind, the 3.5hours you quote for Tesla is only on 240V service at 20A. 120V service at 20A takes 7-8hours. 240V at 40A or 440V at 20A might be closer to 2hours. And that's for the Tesla, which has a pretty wide range. A light weight commuter electric might only have 40-60miles of charge, so a full charge at standard 240V might only be an hour, meaning high current quick charges could be even faster.
Charging stations in Japan will be very common. Some of the convenience store chains such as Lawson which has over 9,500 stores in Japan, are planning on having charging stations at their stores which have parking lots. So are supermarkets. The charging stations won't be limited to current gasoline stations. Eventually many places where you park will have charging facilities so there will be little waiting time for someone to charge up as happens at gas stations. And unlike gas stations where you go specifically to gas up, many of the charging facilities in Japan will be at locations where you plan on spending time shopping or doing something. You won't just be waiting for your car to charge. This is why Japan is working on a standard now.