CCS EV Recharging Group Launches U.S. Operations

CharIN e.V., the Berlin-based trade association created to advance the combined charging system (CCS) for electric vehicles, held its first meetings in North America earlier this month in Newport Beach, Calif., and Southfield, Mich.

P3 Group GmbH is coordinating CharIN’s U.S. activities out of its North American headquarters in Southfield.

Formed a year ago, CharIN (short for Charging Interface Initiative) aims to establish and promote CCS as the global standard for fast-charging EVs, and to help develop technical standards and certification processes for the technology. The group currently has about 50 members, including 14 European and U.S. carmakers.

CCS, which is widely used in Europe and the U.S., is a flexible system that allows for both AC (single- and rapid three-phase) and DC charging. All new EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles in Europe will comply with the standard next year.

Japan uses the CHAdeMO (short for “charge de move”) protocol, which accounts for 60% of all fast-charging installations worldwide. China is developing a separate GB/T protocol and Tesla Motors Inc. employs its own Supercharger network, which current Tesla EV owners can use for free. India, southeast Asia, Africa and South America haven’t decided yet on a standard.

A global standard would allow carmakers to produce a common charging system for all markets as well as eliminate the need for public charging stations to provide multiple connectors.

CCS also would allow the use of higher capacity charging systems. Europe currently is introducing 150-kW CCS chargers and aims to eventually launch 300-350-kW systems. Most current fast chargers operate at 50 kW or less. CHAdeMO and other non-CCS systems have an upper limit of about 150 kW.

“CCS already is standardized for up to 200-kW chargers. The next step is to increase this to 300 to 350 kW,” says Andre Kaufung, CharIN’s managing director.

Higher capacity systems allow for faster charging. Whereas current 50-kW systems take about 80 minutes to fully recharge a battery to provide a 400-km (248-mile) driving range, a 150-kW system can reduce this to 27 minutes and a 350-kW unit is expected to cut recharging times to just 12 minutes.  

To be a “core” CharIN member costs €10,000; regular membership is €5,000. Members can participate in several working groups that focus on charging connections, infrastructure, testing/interoperability, communication, topology and grid integration.

The group’s immediate focus is to add members, especially in regions that haven’t picked a charging standard or are committed to something other than CCS. The organization has made strides in this area recently by adding India’s Mahindra & Mahindra, Tesla and Renault (alliance partner Nissan is one of CHAdeMO’s biggest backers.) In addition to carmakers and suppliers, CharIN hopes to add utility companies and national laboratories to its membership roster.

More information is available on the group’s website.