The first images have been released of the new standard charging plug jointly developed by the China Electricity Council (CEC) and the CHAdeMO Association. The new charging standard ChaoJi should enable outputs of up to 900 kW.

The prototype of the new charging plug was presented at the general assembly of the CHAdeMO Association. The new charging standard is to be released in 2020 and bears the working title ChaoJi. The connection is designed for 900 amperes and 1,000 volts to enable the required charging capacity.

At the meeting, however, only the connection on the infrastructure side could be seen, according to InsideEVs, the components on the vehicle side did not make it through customs in time.

At the General Assembly, Takafumi Anegawa was also elected as the new President of the CHAdeMO Association. It was also announced that the Japanese consortium was working on a pantograph version of its own standard and a version for lower charging capacities (such as motorcycles or forklift trucks) in addition to cooperation with the CEC.

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For those not yet familiar with DC charging standards: While in Europe, North America and some other countries the Combined Charging System (CCS) has been defined as the quick-charging standard, Japan has so far relied on CHAdeMO, and China on its own GB/T standard. Tesla, on the other hand, has opted for its own variant. However, the Californians are installing an additional GB/T charging socket in their electric cars especially for the Chinese market – just as in Europe the CCS charging connection has been integrated into the Model 3, whereby for older models, the Models S and Model X, an adapter can be ordered.

CHAdeMO and GB/T share more than 90 per cent of the global fast-charging market. But they see a longer-term threat to their current dominance because CCS is supported by major players such as BMW, Ford, General Motors and VW. The development of a common new standard can, therefore, be seen as a direct challenge to CCS, which is organised in the Charging Interface Initiative (CharIN).

Both the CHAdeMO Association and the China Electricity Council have emphasised the open approach of their project, which should explicitly leave room for proposals from other countries. However, a few things are also set: Both partners want to continue to rely on the Controller Area Network (or CAN bus), which is a standard for communication within and between vehicles and chargers and which CHAdeMO and GB/T already have in common. In addition, it is already clear that the new charging standard for ultra-fast charging should be made compatible with existing CHAdeMO and GB/T standards.

insideevs.com, chademo.com