Japan, China Eyeing Unified Electric Vehicles Charging System Standard

Tokyo, June 12 (Jiji Press)--Japan and China are working to unify standards for electric vehicle charging systems. Currently, there are multiple standards in the world, with charging plugs with different shapes used in Europe, the United States and Asia. If Japan standardizes the charging system's standard with China, which is the largest automobile market in the world, it could virtually gain control over the global standard and help Japanese electric vehicle makers have a competitive edge over their European and U.S. rivals, pundits said. For standards adopted in fast chargers, Japan uses the CHAdeMO system, while Europe and the United States adopts the Combined Charging System and China the GB/T system. U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. has its own standard. There were over 18,000 CHAdeMO charging posts in 71 countries as of March this year. The Japanese system is not compatible with the European and U.S. systems at all but has compatibility with the Chinese system in terms of technology for data exchanges between vehicles and chargers. Recently, China's government-owned State Grid Corp. proposed that members of the CHAdeMo Association jointly develop a next-generation standard, and Japanese participants responded positively, informed sources said. The Chinese government is pushing the use of electric vehicles to reduce its country's severe emission-caused air pollution. Japan and China also plan to encourage India to join the unified standard, the sources said. A CHAdeMO Association official said the group plans to call for the European and U.S. camps to secure charging system compatibility. END