Chinese government to launch 15 different electric car standards
The Chinese government is planning to unify the electric car industry with a set of 15 new electric car standards which will cover manufacturing specifics in a bid to consolidate the electric car industry into one standard within China.
China is planning to become one of the big ‘electric car states’ in the next few years as its plans to lower its dependency on foreign oil, yet continue with rapid car sales at the same time. The different standards will cover 15 different areas of electric car standards and will cover areas such as battery casing size, voltage and current references, charging stations (including monitoring and billing) and also car security.
It is not entirely clear what global ramification this standardization project might have for international car makers that plan to export electric cars into China in the future, or what it might mean for Chinese electric automotive exports. China may well lead the way in an electric car standard, or they maybe pushed aside by a global forum of international automakers that have their own standardization aspirations.
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I sounds promising. Imagine if you have a BYD E6 but you can not charge it at a certain station because the plugs are made for cars by FAW.
Having these standards can make life easier for manufacturers and end-users.
The implication is that there would be a market fracture and China would have its own standard incompatible with the rest of the world.
There won’t be single EV charging standard, but a group of regional ones.
- North American standard
- EU standard
- Japanese standard
- Chinese standard
- Korean standard
Southeast Asia, South America, and Middle East are up for grab as these regions would adopt from one of five listed above.
Yes, I agree that there will be regional standards, probably along the same lines as the distribution of electrical current around the world. With China being a huge market, the government should establish national standards to avoid the chaos that would result from a EV “free for all”. Both the consumers and manufacturers will benefit.
IHC
Are you sure there is any Korean standard?
Do not raise your Korea as high as Japan.
Japanese standard will be the same as US standard.
China can have her own standard just by the sheer number.
Can you tell me how many Korean EVs are available?
What a joke to have a Korean standard!!!
Anyway you are pretty “humble” to put Korea at the bottom below China.
Thank you hk. Some people are just too delusional. Something needs to be urgently done to bring these people back to planet Earth.
All the countries mentioned need to be cooperating with a standards body like the Society of Automotive Engineers, SAE. It wasn’t an accident that, looking right to left, we find the gas pedal, the brake pedal, and a clutch pedal, if there is one. Or, that the headlight control is on the left and the wiper control on the right.
Manufacturers have an obligation to cooperate too, as the potential buyer has the right to know:
What the vehicle’s travel range is, on a single charge, and under what conditions.
How long a charge will take.
The predicted wear life of the traction batteries.
Etc.
In the end, standards make life easier for manufacturers since it makes their products more saleable globally.
btw hk can’t we leave the attacks on Korea out of the discussion; they’re not only irrelevant but they’re also unbecoming a knowledgeable guy like you……
dragin, it is funny someone in Mazda factory must have messed up with my Premacy where the headlight control is on the right and the wiper control is on the left. Just kidding…
I agree with you that those basic controls concerning safety should be standardized. Like power plugs we have mainly the US and the UK types, the rest will not survive by market force. Just like the Japanese they have an unique mobile phone system that foreigners found very inconvenient during travelling there. Japan may have the pride to develop in its own way by strong technological backup, even that the Japanese system never becomes a standard. How on Earth can Korea develop an EV standard?
No, my comments on IHC are no attacks on Korea. They are just correcting the mis-information he is trying to convey. Did I say any Korea-bashing opinions?
Anyway thank you for the advise. dragin, I_H_C, mememe, joninchina… are names known to me back to 2006 in other forum and I appreciate your thoughtful comments.
Hi hk,
Thanks for the update on Mazda. I’m afraid I lead a sheltered life
Actually there has been some articles written about standardizing those steering column, and HVAC, controls for the sake of people who jump into a rental and drive off into a dark night during a downpour. But I guess manufacturers don’t like to be told how they must do it.
I know how IHC irks people just by the choice of his name. Actually Chinese and Koreans have gotten along quite well over the centuries and I don’t expect that to change.
@ hk
> Are you sure there is any Korean standard?
Yes. Recall that Korean lithium polymer battery has a different rapid charging profile compared to Japanese batteries.
Given current Korean dominance in EV battery(GM, Ford, Hyundai/Kia, BMW, Volvo, and Volkswagen all use Korean batteries), Korean chargining standard is guaranteed to exert influence over the US and EU EV rapid charging stanadards.
> Japanese standard will be the same as US standard.
Nope. The US has its own standard under development. Japanese are pushing CHADEMO rapid charging standard in the US, but GM, Ford, and Hyundai-Kia are refusing to use CHADEMO because Korean battery packs they use are incompatible with CHADEMO standard, and cannot be made compatible until CHADEMO incorporates Korean charging station-battery pack communication protocall and charging profiles.
> Can you tell me how many Korean EVs are available?
You should actually be asking how many EVs using Korean battery packs are out there.
> How on Earth can Korea develop an EV standard?
Easy. Buy selling the majority of battery packs and controllers. Charging statations interfacing with Korean-battery equipped EVs from GM, Ford, VW, Hyundai/Kia, and BMW must adopt Korean standard.
For Chinese readers who are unaware of EV development scene outside of China, read this. http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201008150124.html
” Japanese industry officials fear that South Korean companies will eventually dominate the fast-expanding market as they have done in memory chips and flat panels.”
“”A moment’s delay in decision-making can result in a crucial mistake,” said Sanyo President Seiichiro Sano. “We cannot beat (South Korean rivals) unless we join forces with our parent.”"
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-25/panasonic-samsung-sdi-battery-price-war-to-escalate-on-glut-analysts-say.html
““We anticipate the harsh price competition with South Korean makers will continue,” said Akira Kadota, a spokesman at Osaka-based Panasonic. “We are reviewing our production process to strengthen our cost competitiveness so that we can win the battle.” ”
“Samsung SDI, based in Yongin, South Korea, will likely overtake Panasonic’s Sanyo as the world’s top producer of lithium-ion batteries this year, according to estimates at the Institute of Information Technology.”
““It’s a battle between the South Korean and Japanese makers,” Takeshita said.”
Japanese language articles paint much grimmer pictures, they already say Japan lost the EV battery war to Koreans. China is never mentioned as Japan’s competitor in EV war in Japan to the shock of Chinese nationalists, as Japanese do not consider the quality of Chinese battery and electric motors to be threatening.
So why can’t Chinese battery and electric component be sold in the US and EU? Because these markets require 15 year design life span on batteries, while average Chinese car is junked in 7 years and the thoughts of a car lasting 10 years is unimaginable to Chinese automaker’s executives.
This is why BYD has yet to land single foreign battery sales contract in spite of Warren Buffet driven hype, because BYD’s battery quality is terrible.
“wow finally the Japanese and the world community have learnt about the existence of the Korean nation, i am so proud” . Please come back to planet Earth, will ya.
I will believe it when I see it but until now, no there is no such thing as Korean standard in any industry, and why should the Chinese know about the Korean EV development, as if the Japanese and the American EVs development are not important enough. You lot are acting like a bunch of kids, “hey I want attention too” and “at last, the Korean people are important in the eyes of the Chinese and the Japanese” Please!!!
Do you know what that is called ? It’s inferiority complex. Your behaviour says it all.
@ mememe
> and why should the Chinese know about the Korean EV development
Because Korean industry dominate EV battery and related electrical component industry.
Chinese should get to know industry’s dominant players better if they were hoping to compete in this market. Hedgefund managers and Venture Capitals already bet on Koreans.
Chinese can always choose to ignore the industry’s dominant players if they want to set up themselves for a failure in the international market, which they seem to be doing just that and the industry’s dominant players would welcome any Chinese failures, as you would imagine.
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4199338/Atiq-Raza-clean-tech-VCs-AMD
“Interview: Atiq Raza on clean tech, the Valley and AMD
5/14/2010 12:23 PM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif.–We sat down recently with Atiq Raza, entrepreneur in residence at Khosla Ventures
EET: Who are the likely winners?
Raza: From the best I can tell the Koreans are winning that race. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next two years Samsung and LG emerge as the winners with Panasonic and Sanyo now merging and being left behind as number three.”
Everybody from Panasonic’s corporate war room to hedgefund manager’s desk and Japanese rightwingers at 2CH knows Koreans are winning the EV battery war.
Only Chinese nationalists seem to be ignorant of this fact and look to losers like A123(Which is busy stealing engineers from LG right at this moment) for an insperation. But Chinese in general lack information on outside world, so this is hardly surprising.
So if you still don’t understand why China doesn’t have single world class brand and why Chinese cars don’t/can’t sell in developed markets, just blame it on the Great Firewall of China.
IHC
Yes, I have to admit that my LCD monitor is LG, my mobile phone is Samsung, my fridge is Samsung, my SUV is Hyundai. I enjoy their performances and they are way better than the Chinese counterparts. Yet the foundamental reason for me to choose them is CHEAPER. If I can afford, I will buy a Sony LCD, an iPhone, a Panasonic fridge, a Toyota Rav4.
You can tell us LG Chem is the world leader in EV power pack technology and that has to be confirmed after the introduction of Volt. Laboratory tests and simulations are just initial result, real world challenge will tell the truth. I can wait to see how good they are.
Now the EV battery market is a three-horse racing.
1. LG Chem in GM Volt (Korean & American)
2. BYD in BYD e6 (Chinese & Chinese)
3. A123 System in Chery G5 (American & Chinese)
What a race, we have 3 Chinese, 2 American and 1 Korean.
The Japanese are excluded as IHC has informed us that LG is the best and they are too expensive compared to the Chinese.
IHC, I assume you are talking about this Atiq Raza.
http://www.siliconbeat.com/2008/01/22/atiq-raza-to-pony-up-3-million-to-settle-insider-trading-charges/
Respecting your opinion but just saying that a disgraced, slightly dishonest very intelligent person working for venture capitalist is hardly the most reliable source….
Also, Bob Lutz did mention another reason LG was chosen as the preferred cell maker. The decision took two years so must have been pretty close except for this carrot.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/volt-birth-watch-125-gm-to-spend-30m-on-volt-battery-plant/
If A123 is stealing engineers then maybe the police should get involved because kidnapping is pretty serious. If they are offering them better working conditions, new job opportunities and a chance to use their skills more then that is just normal headhunting and happens everyday.
If anyone is interested there is an Asian EV conference next month.
http://www.asiaelectricvehicles.com/