When purchasing an electrified vehicle, one of the great surprises for the user who has just arrived from the conventional ones is that it will now have a charging system, from which the plug will have to be connected to a connector to recharge. It is quite common to have certain doubts about it, especially considering that there are various types of connectors for our electric cars.
Lack of standards makes them disparate
However, and in the same way that it happens with conventional plugs, electrical connectors, as well as plug-in hybrids, they are disparate and not compatible with each other. Until an agreement is reached between manufacturers that allows their unification, this situation causes confusion and doubt among future users.
Unlike the universal nozzle used for refueling, the connector on electric vehicles is not unique. The various automobile associations have launched various proposals. At the moment, the Menneke connector, used by the Renault ZOE and the Nissan LEAF 2018 is positioned as the main option in the European market, due to the significant volume of sales represented by these two models.
As such, currently the truth is that we can find different connectors that exist both for electric cars and also for electrified motorcycles. Thus, there is still no standard type, so each manufacturer has chosen their own. However, with the passage of time, the trend has been to increasingly standardize connectors and charging points. In these moments we can differentiate four great guys according to its load category.
Charging modes
In these, it is worth mentioning, beyond the fact that there is no standardization as such, that one of the main doubts occurs during the recharging of these cars. Especially since there are different types of plugs. In fact, there are some electric cars that have several connectors available to power adapt to most points recharging, which often creates confusion.
But, let us start at the beginning. Before going through all the types of connectors and plugs that we are going to find, and that may be suitable for our vehicles, it should be noted that there are also different charging modes. This is a basic to know how the cables and plugs will be seen later.
Given this, today, it is possible to control the recharge to schedule it, stop it, view its status or resume it at any time. This will be depending on the level of communication existing between which may be the charging infrastructure to which we have addressed and the vehicle itself.
And it is that, the load of this type of automobiles, already has its own regulation of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). It is called 62196. This is the international standard for the set of electrical connectors and charging modes for electric vehicles, as well as IEC 61851, which is the international standard for the conductive charging system of electric vehicles.
Thus, with three in alternating current (AC) and one in direct current (DC), the batteries have up to four charging operating modes.
- Slow loading. Mode 1 with alternating current. This is slow charging from a domestic socket (Schuko socket) and without communication between the vehicle and the charging point. The charging time will depend on the capacity of the battery. It can be done at night, which is when there is less energy demand. In the single-phase network, it uses the electrical intensity and voltage of the same level as a house: 16 amps and up to 250 volts
- Mode 2 with alternating current. This mode deals with a slow charge with plug and base similar to the previous one, of a standard type, not exclusive. The difference is that the cable has a protection system included and a differential switch. The car charger connector is inserted into the vehicle entrance, here type 2 (it can be Mennekes or ChadeMo) and the infrastructure charging connector is plugged into the charging point’s infrastructure charging box. Typical intensity is 16 amps
- Semi-fast charging. Mode 2 with alternating current. Here the charging is semi-fast and it is done with a charging cable fixedly connected to the charging point, whose vehicle charging connector plugs into the input. The normal intensity in this mode is 32 amps – although it allows up to 63 – and the normal power is between 8 and 14 kW.
- Cquick load. Mode 4 with direct current. This charging mode is used for what is known as fast charging. It is generally carried out in electric stations, especially since they transfer high load powers. It is the only one that uses alternating current. Here, the AC / DC transformer is fixedly at the load point, thus avoiding power loss or heating problems. In less than half an hour it will provide energy to obtain a charge of 80% of the battery. The electrical intensity and voltage are 600 volts and up to 400 amps and the maximum power is between 125 and 240 W.
Connector types and charge levels
Currently, and because it is not yet something that has been fully developed despite its great advances in recent times, the truth is that the connectors of electric cars have little to say when it comes to shorten recharge time battery.
This depends mainly on the charging power that the car has and that supplied by the terminal. However, and as we have seen in the previous point, it is important to differentiate between connectors for alternating current and for direct current (AC and DC). The first ones are the ones that we will use for recharges of relatively low amperage and power, and the last ones are the ones that serve for fast recharging, basically.
Now, what are connectors and what types are we going to find? These are, in a nutshell, the different types of plugs, or also known plugs, which are available to connect the electric vehicle to the recharging network. Something very similar happens to what happens with domestic plugs, depending on which countries they may be different.
With different size and properties. There has been an attempt to unite the German and North American manufacturers with the combined system, but they have not agreed with the french and japanese. In this way, specialized companies have had to adapt to the regulations to be able to produce connectors, charging points and software for connection and control of charge and infrastructures. These companies are also developing new technologies at high speed.
Schuko
Is he household plug lifelong. It is the European standard for the connection of electrical appliances in low voltage and single-phase current. It is characterized by the two main poles and an additional contact for grounding.
It is compatible with European sockets and is only adaptable with slow recharges. This Type 2 portable charger has a V2C IEC 62196 connector. This is allowing manually select charging intensity (from 6A to 16A). It is especially comfortable and is compatible with most adapters.
Type 1 connector (or Yazaki)
It is 43 mm in diameter and has five terminals, supports two levels of recharging in alternating current: one of 80 amps for fast recharge and another of 16 amps for the slow one. Although it is a standard of Japanese origin, it was the one chosen by the American market and is also accepted in the European Union.
Although many brands such as Kia, Toyota, Ford, Renault, Citroën, Peugeot, Mitsubishi, Nissan or Opel use it, nowadays it is in disuse and they are favoring the type 2 connector, that of Mennekes. Physically the connection pins are isolated inside the connector ensuring that there is no physical access to the pins. Includes various levels of shock protection, to ensure cargo safety, even in wet conditions.
Type 2 connector (or Mennekes)
This has a total of seven terminals and two types of current: single phase at 16 amps for slow charging and three phase at 63 amps for fast charging. With German origin, it is compatible with models, Renault, Tesla, Volvo, Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, and BMW.
It is also the connector used by all Volkswagen electric models. It is the automotive electrical connector more used both in the world (accounting for 62% of the existing connectors) and in Spain (with 53% of the market).
SAE J1722
The SAE J1722 connector is a standard charger in Japan for recharging in alternating current and allows both the fast charge like trickle charge. Although it is not one of the most popular systems among manufacturers that distribute their electric cars in Europe, we can find it in some models of companies such as Citroën, Mitsubishi or Nissan.
It has been adopted by the Americans and accepted in the European Union. It has five terminals: two for current, two complementary and one for ground. Its appearance is also striking, since the connector is designed with a characteristic security form to prevent any type of access to it by third parties.
CHAdeMo
Along with the connectors for electric cars from Mennekes, Yazaki or SAE, we also have the CHAdeMO, from DC. This is the most used in Japanese car models. It is used by brands such as Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru or Toyota, among others. It is characterized by being the largest diameter, having 10 terminals inside.
You can load up to one 400 kW power, which allows, if the car is capable of receiving this power, to make ultra-fast charges. It is the only connector that allows bidirectional recharging, that is, the car is the one that supplies the energy, for example, to the house at any given time. Or that it reverts the excess energy to the electricity grid, as is done in some companies.
Combo 2
This is the Combo 2, one of the most efficient and popular chargers. And it is that this is characterized by being able to charge both in alternating current and in direct current. It is easily identified because in its design combines two types of connectors. The upper part is exactly the same as that of a Mennekes, and will be used for charging with alternating current.
While the lower one is used for direct current, for ultra-fast charging. Therefore, it can be used both at home and in public charging stations, where it is very present. It has 9 terminals, and in alternating current, it can charge up to 63 A and 43 kW, while in continuous it admits up to 350 kW of power. It is a connector that has been created between American and German builders, which is used by some Tesla models and many German brands.