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The move towards charging vehicles safely from the electric grid has advanced after Europe’s automobile manufacturers agreed to a first phase of joint specifications.

The agreement only covers one- and three-phrase AC charging in the short- and medium-term and reflects the needs of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. It is expected that further agreements will follow relating to quick charging and heavy duty vehicles.

The phase one agreements include:

- Vehicle inlet: There will be no restrictions on the type of vehicle inlet as vehicles with different types are already on the market or in a late development stage. So manufacturers will supply at least one cable with a type two plug or standard domestic plug to connect to infrastructure.

- Public charging: Type two industrial sockets will be allowed during this transitional period – if the vehicle inlet is of a different type than the connector on the fixed cable then the customer must be able to use its own cable that is delivered with the vehicle.

- Home charging: Standard home sockets are widely available but a third party certification of the household electricity grid should be conducted before the vehicle is first charged.

As part of phase two, a uniform EU solution that reduces the solutions on the market has been suggested while still maintaining maximum flexibility for consumers and predictability for producers. Current phase two agreements include a harmonised solution for vehicle inlets using mode three charging will apply for new types from 2017; a mode three uniform EU solution for public charging; and a mode three uniform EU solution for home charging, although standard domestic sockets or industrial sockets will still be allowed on the condition of third party certification.

Elsewhere, countries such as Japan and the USA have decided to use a pure single-phase connector. China has similar distribution grids to Europe and includes a type two connector for the vehicle and infrastructure in its new standard.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association includes BMW Group, DAF Trucks, Daimler, FIAT Group, Ford of Europe, General Motors Europe, Jaguar Land Rover, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge, Porsche, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault, Scania, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen and Volvo.