The poor reliability of public EV chargers is an industry-wide scandal. A 12 months in the past, when legacy automakers began adopting Tesla’s NACS charging system, many appeared to imagine that this is able to quickly resolve all the issues. Extra sober observers advised us that one of many major causes Tesla’s Superchargers have been so dependable is that autos, chargers and community had been all managed by a single firm—and that benefit was all the time going to vanish as quickly as different manufacturers’ EVs began utilizing the Superchargers.
Right here at Charged, we had been additionally skeptical in regards to the knowledge of granting a lot energy over the charging scene to anybody firm (particularly one with a free cannon on the helm). These considerations had been arguably validated this week when Tesla reportedly laid off its total Supercharger crew and threw the {industry} into turmoil.
It stays to be seen how the shock transfer will have an effect on Tesla and different {industry} gamers, however no matter finally ends up occurring, Tesla’s NACS has morphed into SAE J3400, and it isn’t going away. Interoperability testing has been occurring for months, and can proceed. One of many corporations on the heart of that is EcoG, which offers an working system that powers EV chargers from many various manufacturers.
“Tesla may take a look at its EVs with 5 to 10 charger varieties, however the broader problem is rather more advanced.”
“Tesla is doing higher as a result of there you might have this single entity controlling each the charger and the car,” EcoG CEO Joerg Heuer advised Charged in a latest interview (which befell earlier than the most recent Tesla information). “Most individuals look to the charger, however we additionally look to the car. We offer a Reliability Index for autos, and we plan to publish the second version someday later this 12 months.”
“Proper now, we’re taking a look at a panorama with about 100 charging station producers and a rising variety of EV producers,” mentioned Heuer. “Tesla may take a look at its EVs with 5 to 10 charger varieties, however the broader problem is rather more advanced. To realize a very seamless charging expertise for any EV driver, we’re tasked with guaranteeing that each electrical automotive can use any charging station. Reaching this interoperability means testing over 500 totally different combos of vehicles and chargers.”
“Reaching…interoperability means testing over 500 totally different combos of vehicles and chargers.””
One factor that may hopefully facilitate interoperability over the approaching years is the truth that NACS/J3400 isn’t radically totally different from CCS. “The plug is kind of totally different, however all of the processing behind it’s fairly related,” Heuer explains. “That’s additionally the rationale why in Europe they will simply use a CCS plug, and in US they’ve these adapters. In fact, within the foreground, it appears very totally different as a result of the plug appears totally different. However within the background, the automation, the actually advanced stuff, that’s fairly related.”
“About two weeks after the announcement that Ford would undertake NACS, a buyer of ours simply added a Tesla cable to their CCS station, and the factor labored with a Tesla car,” Heuer advised us. “That’s the good factor. It’s now not this competitors between CHAdeMO and CCS, which had been actually completely totally different programs. In comparison with CHAdeMO, I’d say 90% or 95% is absolutely the identical between CCS and NACS.”
Some discover it ironic that in Europe, Tesla adopted the CCS plug, whereas within the US, car OEMs and EVSE producers are adopting the Tesla plug. Heuer explains that there are a number of causes for that. “One purpose is that in Europe, we’ve got a three-phase AC system, so this is able to be a shortcoming of the Tesla plug as a result of then they might solely be capable of cost one part. In Europe, we’d then be restricted to 3 kilowatts in most international locations, possibly most seven. That’s one bodily facet.”
A second distinction between the North American and European markets is that the latter has developed in a much less vertically-integrated manner. “The networks began fairly early with roaming and so forth—it was not so depending on what community or mobility service supplier you contracted with. So the benefit Tesla had in comparison with the remainder of the networks was not so vital.”
Supply: EcoG