GM Lobbies for Electric Car Plug Standardization

• Given the diversity of existing mains outlet configurations, voltages and frequencies across the globe
• Given the prospects of world-wide trade in the equipment

What is the chance of it being a global standard, and not simply a General Motors one?

"Darling, I need to charge the car up overnight. Did you pack the travel adaptor?"

Lobby is a strange term

The SAE is a standards organization with international links, who else would one apply to for a needed standard?

Actually given that the SAE is the appropriate doorway to the international community for an effort like this, it would be strange if they reached around the SAE.

And we use SAE standards all over aviation - that is strange.

But how much would it suck if you couldn't pull into BP, but HAD to find a Shell station for compatibility.

Hi Edignan - I can see the electrical engineers' trade organization being the big, additional standards organization to also get involved in creating a standard for the U.S.: the "IEEE". Also, UL, various U.S. state Independent System Operators (ISO), not to mention manufacturers of traditional electric generation hardware, like General Electric's generator division, would also have their say in developing a standard. There's a U.S. federal agency that coordinates interstate power - "FERC" - I'm sure they'd play a role in developing a standard, too. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be a simple process, so I wish the folks at SAE much luck in pushing for this. - Larry

I agree with the need to adopt a common standard. I'll be surprised that this will be settled before cars from various manufacturers reach market. And I strongly doubt that GM will be first to market with an all-electric vehicle (besides, I think technically the current Prius operates in electric-only mode for short distances, yes?).

The Volt is overdue, overbudget and increasingly overpriced with each estimated sticker that is released. Production was scheduled to begin June 1 of this year, but I believe that has been pushed back. This coupled with GM teetering on the edge of vaporization makes me skeptical that the Volt will ever truly see the light of day. I suspect that the rumored plug-in Prius supposedly due out in 2010 will beat it to market.

Will my Betamax video machine be able to plug into it too.
Del

Okay, now lets agree on what we are working to standardize. The last time that I checked every electric car out there ran on a different voltage, depending on how many batteries they could cram in. And we should be talking about a DC connection because the AC connections are pretty much standardized by the RV usage.

But if you can agreen on a voltage, go down to the welding supply store and buy welding cable and connectors. These have no problem handling hundreds of amps, and the salt air corrosion can be cleaned out enough to make them conduct even if they have been terribly corroded,

Now all we have to agree on is positive and negative polarity.

Nah.. we should be talking AC connection of any voltage from 90 - 300 50-60hz the rectification and regulation should be in the car, then we'd have compatibility.

Although do we have to cater for 400hz or Alien standards?.... that constant current variable voltage 2,000Ghz standard on those flying saucers can be a real pig to interface with
Del

Just make a little PMM (Perpetual Motion Machine) to put by the gravity generator and make your preferred flavor of energy.

What is GM's angle? They would just pocket the money and the customer would still be burnt.

I'm with Del on this. Yeah, the Xformer would add weight, but so what. And I think 'all electric' should still have a 5 hp emergency gas generator. At least enough to get it off the road should one forget to notice the charge state.

400hz? Only if you want the thing to fly.

Great comments by all here -

Wouldn't it be nice, like PWSlack suggests, if there were just one global standard for this, so that electric car manufacturers in Japan, China, India, Europe and Detroit, could all compete, apples-to-apples, on more important aspects to the vehicle?

Aspects like price, warranty, battery range, acceleration, aesthetics, resale-value, ease-of-disposal/"green" rating, and so on?

I realize local power grids - 50 Hz, 60 Hz, and so on, factor into this, but there is simultaneous talk of a smarter U.S. power grid, so maybe now's the time to consider a global standard for car charging stations?

It would be great if we could avoid the type of problems we had in the 90's with cell phones - specifically, the GSM/CDMA incompatibility problems folks experienced - myself included - traveling between the U.S. and Europe.

Maybe this is also a good time to make Detroit's new electric cars all-metric? Dreams of the 1970's may still come to pass.

An aside: in 1914, Steinmetz was working on creating a U.S. charging station standard - click here for the CR4 article I wrote.

- Larry

Just so long as they standardise on right-hand drive, it would be wonderful.....

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