smart car, dumb driver

The owner of an electric-powered smart fortwo travelling through Germany back in December spent an extra night there, waiting for staff to disconnect his car from a Tesla Supercharger.

The common connector hooked up the Supercharger to the smart without any immediate problem, but there was a wrinkle. Tesla's Superchargers conduct a 'handshake' – like the EV charging equivalent of the aviation industry's IFF. In effect the Supercharger wouldn't begin recharging the car until it received a response from the car identifying itself as a Tesla.

With the smart unable to provide that response, the Supercharger coupling remained locked to the fortwo in anticipation of receiving a signal. Since there were no staff on site at the Supercharger station, the smart driver had to book accommodation for the night and the smart was finally unhooked the following day.

It's a curious turn of events in the broader context of a compelling argument for rationalised recharging stations for EVs and plug-in hybrids. The most compelling argument to date coincidentally hails from Germany, where a consortium named the Charging Interface Initiative, which promotes itself as CharIN, has established a system it refers to as the Combined Charging System (CCS).

CharIN states that CCS has the backing of all members of the ACEA (Europe's equivalent to the FCAI) and the traditional 'Big Three' – GM, Ford, Chrysler – in North America. Volvo is the latest car company to board the CCS bandwagon, announcing in a press release earlier this week that it would 'throw its weight behind' the proposed recharging system for battery/electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

"We see that a shift towards fully electric cars is already underway, as battery technology improves, costs fall and charging infrastructure is put in place," said says Dr Peter Mertens, Volvo's Senior VP for R&D.

"But while we are ready from a technology perspective, the charging infrastructure is not quite there yet. To really make range anxiety a thing of the past, a globally standardised charging system is sorely needed."

CCS is a system based around one universal connector that can couple with different vehicle interfaces, as long as they comply with an existing international standard, IEC 62196. It can recharge a car using single- or three-phase alternative current at up to 43kW or by means of direct current at up to 200kW.

In Europe the standard (and mandated) connecting plug for recharging EVs/plug-ins is the Mennekes, or Type 2 connector, which is also used in Australia. It was, we understand, this type of connector that brought the smart driver unstuck.

Other connectors that comply with IEC 62196 include SAE J1772 from North America and JEVS G105-1993 (otherwise known by its trade name CHAdeMO) from Japan.

The connectors used in Australia are limited to the three already mentioned (J1772, Mennekes and CHAdeMO), according to Heath Walker, Senior Marketing and Communications Manager for Tesla in Australia. That means the CCS – if it ever reaches Australia – could charge Tesla models as well as cars such as the Holden Volt, Nissan LEAF and Mitsubishi i-MiEV.

"The Model S uses Mennekes and we also have an adaptor for Chademo," Walker revealed to motoring.com.au. "The standard throughout Europe is Mennekes."

Tesla's Supercharger roll-out is pushing ahead rapidly in Australia, and the company is willing to share its infrastructure with other manufacturers. CharIN may be clamouring for CCS to be a standard recharging system deployed around the world, but while Australia remains apparently off its radar, Tesla will continue on its merry way, promoting its own Supercharger network for its own models.

In Europe its Supercharger stations had to comply with the mandated Menneke Type 2 connector before that became one of the acceptable connector types for CCS. It means that a Model S or Model X can recharge at a CCS station, but other brands can't recharge at a Tesla Supercharger.

If it reads a bit like the spat between Telstra and Optus over the roll-out of hybrid-fibre coaxial cable for fast internet connections in Sydney and Melbourne, it's worth recalling that Tesla is spending the money to set up recharging infrastructure – and has invited other brands to share it.

"We are on record as saying we would welcome other car companies to use our infrastructure, but we have not been approached," Walker did observe.

"Tesla has made large investments in the Australian market with regards to charging infrastructure for owners and will continue to do so to ensure that owning an electric vehicle is a more convenient experience than owning a petrol vehicle."

Picture courtesy of electrive/Facebook via electrek.co