We will need EV charging cross compatibility within less than a year!

Charging cross compatibility? Are you of your mind? What should that actually be?
It's could be the ability of any EV outlet (also called charge port) to accept any charging protocol, existing through a simple hardware adapter, while the BMS (Battery Management System) acts like a cosmopolite being able to communicate with any charging protocol of any charging station of the world! Most automotive charging experts, or global organizations will jump up now, and scream: "We don't need this! We've already divided the world into different standards!"

Unfortunately, these particular people are wrong, and today I would like to prove my theories.
As a first example, let's take a look at Ukraine, a European country which is currently on war. Once the war ends, people who had stayed over the whole duration of the war in Ukraine and were not allowed to leave the country during this period, will eventually start travelling again. Same stands for their neighboring countries. This is where cross compatibility comes into play. Ukraine's EV market represents the world of all charging standards combined in one European country!

The reality is, that the electric car fleet there reflects a diversity of the NACS, CCS-1, CCS-2, CHAdeMO & GB/T charging standards.

Visiting an EV Charging station, there, is like visiting a Zoo Park where you could find additionally to the previously mentioned 5 DC charging plugs up to 4 different AC charging plugs.


EV charging station in Ukraine - Image rights © Andrej Strnad

Compared to all HPC Charging Networks inside the European Union which are most of the time only equipped with CCS-2, owners of non CCS-2 vehicles will come prepared with their own charging adapters, to which ever EV Charging standard their vehicle is equipped with.


NACS EV charging adapters - Image rights © Andrej Strnad

Imagine the picture of a burning Chinese spec EV of a European OEM in an underground parking lot of a shopping center somewhere in Germany, which got on fire due to a malfunctioning or poorly manufactured not regulated CCS-2 to GB/T adapter. No media outlet would see the adapter as a reason for a fire, it would only see the electric vehicle to further harm the image of e-mobility. The usage of non regulated charging adapters can't be prevented. But for certain cases with Tesla Supercharging Stations, other EV charging stations cannot detect any kind of charging adapters. We have to be prepared for this, to prevent such scenarios.

There are around only 128,000 EVs in Ukraine, of which realistic less than 50% are equipped with the European variant of the Combined Charging Station (CCS-2), all others are either equipped with NACS, CCS-1 and a growing number of Chinese spec GB/T cars which results as side effect of the current situation Ukraine is currently facing.


CHAdeMO - GB/T charging Adapter - Image rights © Andrej Strnad

How was it possible that the numbers of Chinese spec electric vehicles are increasing all around Eastern Europe, if Europe uses the Combined Charging System over GB/T? The answer is pretty simply.

It's a matter of the price.
Chinese spec vehicles directly imported from the People's Republic of China are way cheaper, than vehicles which were specially manufactured for the European or other CCS-2 markets. We are talking about price savings of sometimes more than 60% before the European Union implemented penalty taxes for Electric Vehicles manufactured on the territory of the People's Republic of China.

Additionally, Ukraine and most of the other post Soviet countries does not require import cars to be homologized by European standards, but for the illumination of the headlights, plus GB/T vehicles also can be charged bidirectionally, and are frequently used as electricity storage in Ukraine.

So why to do all of this work for such a few cars? As I previously mentioned, Ukraine was only one example. I want to shock everyone, with another:

Today, there are already thousands of NACS vehicles in active use on the territory of the European Union using CCS-2 charging stations. Initially by U.S. and NATO Forces in Germany. These vehicles are already cross compatible, the only issue: Only due to the help of unregulated, not scientifically tested and not approved adapters.


NACS - CCS-2 EV charging stall - Source: PlugShare

So there are several reasons why it's finally time to officially implement cross compatibility globally.
My first mentioned example of non CCS-2 vehicles inside Europe is just one example of what is currently happening globally. The EV Markets in the Middle East, South East Asia, South America and Africa are currently getting flooded with cheaply in China sourced GB/T vehicles, where more and more GB/T charging networks are emerging.

We people working in the industry have to act now! I am willing to offer my time and expertise to solve this issue. The clock is ticking. Why do you think most of my colleagues in the automotive industry are hesitant to deal with this issue?