You’ll find the letters C, K and L in hexagons by your EV charging port. Why?
Fuel ports are not very interesting to the common person. Usually you just get a couple of simple warnings about the minimum RON that the engine can accept, warnings against leaded petrol and maybe the odd reminder not to fuel up your diesel tank with petrol. However now that electric vehicles are becoming common, we find ourselves drawn in to the increasingly complex warning labels. Some, like the one on the Mercedes-Benz EQE 350 sedan shown below even features a QR code and a bunch of colour coded cryptic symbols.
Below is a clearer photo of the same label but on the EQE SUV. It can be seen that the QR code is labelled ‘Rescue Card’ and it perhaps has some vital information for Fire & Rescue departments to access in case of an emergency. However, there are a bunch of other symbols that are a little strange. Today we’re just tackling the simplest of these – the labels ‘C’, ‘K’, and ‘L’.
These are not always present or clear to see. On this Xpeng G6, it may have been on the other side of the fuel door but it was way too dark to make out. Bad photo. There is a QR code there still though.
On this Chery Omoda E5 which features a BYD battery pack, the labels ‘C’ and ‘K’ are present but not ‘L’.
A bit of digging online revealed to us the exact meaning of these letters. The letters C, K, and L on EV charging ports refer to specific signaling pins used for communication and safety during charging. Here’s what they mean:
- C : This letter is an identifier for TYPE 2 Vehicle AC connector and vehicle inlet ≤ 480 V voltage range. T
- K : This letter is an identifier for DC fast charging connectors with the charging range of 50V to 500V.
- L: This letter is an identified for DC fast charging connectors that go up to 920V, sometimes known as ultra fast charging stations.
These labels are typically found in Type 2 (Mennekes) and CCS (Combined Charging System) connectors, which we use in Malaysia. This is also the widely accepted standard in Europe and China. Japan and the USA have their own native standards – ChaDeMo and NACS.
