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India’s push to promote electric vehicles (EVs) has caught the fancy of European and Japanese automobile majors, which are now competing with each other to define a standard charging format for the sub-continent.
CHAdeMO, the format promoted by Japanese companies Suzuki and Toyota, is at loggerheads with the Combined Charging System (CCS), a technology being promoted by European auto-makers like Volkswagen and BMW. Indian companies Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors also seem to prefer the CCS format.
It is much like cellphone chargers: they all end up doing the same. But the need for standardisation has been growing.
—Both lobbies are pushing hard as there is no interoperability here. “These are the hardware and software protocols around which the charging apparatus of these electric vehicles are built. Both formats claim to be the best and fastest for charging electric vehicles. But if one is standardised, the other team will have to rework a substantive portion of their vehicle. Also, their existing investment in developing the charging technology will also go waste,” says an industry watcher.
The government, through the Ministry of Heavy Industries, has floated a consultation paper to promote electric vehicles and standardise EV charging stations.
“The government proposal has prescribed both CHAdeMO and CCS. It is now seeking comments. A more amicable approach will be to allow both formats as the government may not want to limit any form of electric vehicle penetration,” a government official told BusinessLine .
Wait! There’s more
But CHAdeMO and CCS are not the only formats around. The Chinese promote the GB/T protocols for charging stations that are suited to their vehicles. Most charging stations set up in India by Energy Efficiency Services Ltd, comply with the Bharat EV Charger AC-001 and Bharat EV Charger DC-001 formats.
Mahesh Babu, CEO, Mahindra Electric, told BusinessLine that his company’s vehicles are compliant with all charging standards. “Mahindra has developed a technology to support all global charging standards, including CCS and CHAdeMO. We are the only Indian steering committee member in CharIn, the CCS standards committee in Europe. Our vehicles comply with Bharat Stage Protocol (low-voltage systems). Considering the varied applications in the country — two- and four-wheelers — we need to look at India-specific charging standards taking the global learnings.”
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