There should be a global standard for electric vehicle chargers, the CHAdeMO association, based in Japan, said.
Toshiyuki Shiga, association president and chief operating officer of Nissan, said other formats would be acceptable but any new chargers should be compatible with existing ones so that people who already own electric vehicles are not troubled.
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The association was formed by the Tokyo power company TEPCO, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru-maker Fuji Heavy Industries with Toyota joining later. Since then, companies in the US and Germany have also joined.
”Instead of creating a conflict (between different standards), we would like to call for efforts to make a product that is compatible for the greater good of combating global issues,” such as global warming, through the promotion of electric vehicles, Shiga told a general assembly of the group in Tokyo.
The group has about 1,400 chargers in use worldwide, more than half of those in Japan; it is concerned that new developments in Europe and China could cause complications for EV owners.
Referring to the European Combo charger, Shiga said while the power source plug structure is different from the CHAdeMo unit, that forms a fraction of the technology. There is room for discussing compatibility over the remainder that accounts for most of the charger’s makeup, he said.
China has also come up with its own charger different from Japan’s, and senior association officials said talks with the Chinese manufacturers have been unsuccessful.
