EU Industry Groups Seek Standard EV Charging Hardware

BRUSSELS – The momentum behind adopting a single standard for the public charging of electric vehicles in the European Union is building, with the automotive and electricity industries and the EU executive all backing the idea.

The European Commission’s CARS 21 group of high-level auto industry policymakers says it will assess legislative options for implementing an EU-wide law mandating such a standard.

CARS 21 experts also will consider the technical factors in “developing a standardized, publicly accessible recharging infrastructure for electric vehicles in the EU.” The study’s findings will be released in October.

The announcement follows a joint statement from three major industry associations – ACEA, the European automobile manufacturers' association; CLEPA the European association of automotive suppliers and Eurelectric (Europe’s power-utility association) – calling for a single standard for charging EVs in Europe.

While European auto makers and Eurelectric would like a common standard to be in place by 2017, CLEPA would like to see the new standard established as soon as 2015.

Sophie Tielemans, a Eurelectric advisor on electric vehicles and standardization, warns “the absence of such standards represents a major initial market barrier” for the rollout of EVs across the 27-country EU.

Adds CLEPA CEO Jean-Marc Gales, “E-mobility shall take off, and if there is no single point of contact/connectivity we cannot move ahead.”

ACEA and CLEPA have recommended the Type 2/Type Combo inlet/connector be used throughout the EU as of 2017. Gales says that while most EU member states already have adopted the Type 2 standard, France and some other countries have opted for the Type 3 standard instead.

French auto makers have called for a transition period if another standard is to be adopted across the EU. But Eurelectric and the two auto-industry groups are against this approach.

“The market is not mature, and we don't have hundreds of thousands of plugs all over Europe that need to be transitioned to a common one,” Gales says. "If you start building up a large (charging) infrastructure, you would want to use the right type of plugs. There is no commitment for a big infrastructure for recharging in any member state yet.”

In 2010, the EC asked three organizations that determine common electrotechnical standards for EU countries –  CEN, CENELEC and ETSI – to review existing criteria for charging EVs and electric vehicles and develop new standards if necessary. The final report from the groups did not recommend any specific standard.