Although electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are no longer reserved for science fiction, they are still far from common place. Because of the infant stage of electric vehicle technology, there are still plenty of bugs to work out, far beyond just viable drivetrains. One such issue is a single standard for vehicle cords, and it looks as though a solution could be just right around the corner.
One of the biggest obstacles in the way of the electrification of the car is one standardized plug. It sounds like a rather simple problem to solve, but many automakers are using their own proprietary hardware to facilitate the charging of their electric vehicles. Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s when electric vehicles were available to the public in California, four separate plug types were used. This caused quite a problem for charging stations which had to be prepared for all four plug types.
However, for the second go of electric cars and the new generation of plug-in hybrids, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) is working on a single plug standard. Not only will this help simplifying things on the charging end, but should also reduce production and build complexity.
But the cords that will be used to charge electric vehicles won’t quite be the same as that spare extension cord you have in the back of the closet. EV cords will be safer and smart er than any technology currently on the market. For example, the new cords will only be ‘live’ once they are plugged into a vehicle, and can even detect damp conditions to prevent electrocution, according to Popular Mechanics.
The new design – which uses five prongs instead of the standard three prong setup of today – will also be able to talk to the vehicle and the charging infrastructure. If you accidently leave you car plugged into a charging station and attempt to drive away, the cord will alert the vehicle and prevent the motor from running.
The new cord will also allow EVs to talk to next-generation “smart gridsâ€. The new system will essentially be able to let the vehicle tell the grid how much power it needs, and the grid will be able to communicate when the cheapest times to recharge are. Depending on owner settings, the gird can then charge the car right away – say if you have to leave in an hour – or can wait until the cheapest charge time.
Additionally, smart grids have the capability to take power from EVs and put it back into the system. This would be most useful at peak afternoon hours when most cars are just sitting in a parking lot. Car owners would receive credit for the power taken from their EVs, and would also be helping to make the grid run more efficiently. However, this technology is still a ways off, with no plans to implement it any time soon.
As we enter the electric age there are sure to be many more innovations, but no technology is proving more important than the cords we will use to charge future vehicles.
