Combined Charging Standard has finally arrived. North America sees the first ‘combined charging standard’ with the first ever public electric-car charging station to offer quick-charging using the CCS plug, also known as “SAE Combo” which opened at San Diego, US last week.
Developed by a coalition of U.S. and German car makers, CCS uses a single plug that combines a “J-1772” plug for 240-Volt Level 2 charging with pins for direct-current fast charging. Proponents of the standard say the combination simplifies the design of electric cars by using a single charge port and the same basic communications protocols for both Level 2 and DC fast charging. The charging station also offers Level 2 charging as well, plus a second quick-charging cable that uses the competing DC fast-charging standard found on Nissan Leaf electric cars.
CCS is billed as an industry-wide standard for electric-car charging, but the cars that use it are just now starting to appear.The list of automakers set to adopt CCS over time includes General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Daimler, BMW, and the Volkswagen Group–but only two cars with CCS capability are slated to enter showrooms in the near term.
The Nissan Leaf, which will be the largest selling all-electric car for Malaysia followed closely by the Renault Fluence on the road, uses the fast charging standard (as does the very low-volume Mitsubishi i-MiEV). Let us see if the Malaysian authorities will move to roll-out this around the country in the near future.
