EV charging station guidelines to support dual platforms

The Government of India has asked all public electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to install both - Japanese and Euro/US-spec connectors for electric vehicles. 

At present, most vehicle manufacturers use CHAdeMO or Combined Charging System (CCS) charging protocols, while Chinese cars use GB/T 20234 connectors and Tesla uses a proprietary 480V fast charger. CHAdeMO is used by Japanese carmakers. It is a quick charging method for EVs delivering up to 62.5 kW, 500 V, 125 A DC. CHAdeMO 2.0 supports 400 kW by 1000 V and 400 A DC. However, 15 out 20 major car brands promote CCS, which supports 50-350 kW. CCS is a dual AC and DC system that allows fast as well slow charging depending on the vehicle it is connected to.

The move is expected to increase the manufacturing cost of charging stations as it would require communication protocols to link batteries to chargers and plugs that support both charging formats. Residential and captive charging stations for a company's internal fleet will be not required to support all the charging protocols. 

The government guidelines also state that cities should have charging points at every 3 km, while charging points should be setup at 25 km intervals on both sides of highways. 9 cities have been shortlisted for the Phase 1 rollout. These include Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat and Pune. Big cities, state capitals and Union Territory headquarters will be targeted in the second phase which is expected to begin in 2021.

The tariff for supply of electricity to public charging points should not exceed the average cost of supply by more than 15%. Service charges will be fixed by state governments. Further, setting up charging stations will not require a separate license. Power distribution companies can facilitate setting up private charging stations and charging stations can obtain electricity from any power company.

Today, only the European Union has standardized guidelines for electric vehicles. The CCS Type 1 or 2 plugs (AC) or the Combo 1 or 2 (AC and DC) are mandatory in public charging stations and all electric carmakers, including Tesla comply with it. 

Source: Economic Times