Charging of electric vehicles Mandate officially handed over to the European Standards Organisations

Green standardization is again in the spotlight with a new mandate given by the European Commission and EFTA, the European Free Trade Association, to the European Standards Organisations, CEN, the European Committee for Standardization, CENELEC, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization, and ETSI, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, regarding the charging of electric cars, scooters and bicycles.

Mr Antonio Tajani, European Commission Vice-President responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, officially handed over today the mandate (M/468) to Mr David Dossett, CENELEC President, Mr. John Phillips, ETSI General Assembly Chairman, Mrs Elena Santiago Cid, CEN-CENELEC Director General and Ms. Margot Dor, Director of Partnerships and EU Affairs of the ETSI Secretariat, at the European Commission premises.

Electric vehicles have become an increasingly important topic in the European agenda, representing an undeniable potential in achieving the 2020 target of reducing carbon emissions. The push to develop viable electric cars has been driven in particular by the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions in order to curb climate change and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. The transport sector has been offsetting emission cuts from other sources, as it has become the fastest-growing consumer of energy in the EU.

Safety, interoperability and performance of electric vehicles chargers are at stake. The essential contribution of standardization, and the work of the official European standardization bodies, in completing these objectives is again recognised by the European Commission and EFTA.

Interoperable chargers will allow consumers to easily charge their vehicles across Europe, and to use the same charger for different brands of electric vehicles. The standard will ensure the interoperability and connectivity between the electricity supply point and the charger of electric vehicles, and guarantee the safety of the electric vehicle batteries and their electromagnetic compatibility. The setting-up of new standards for electric vehicles will further promote the development of the European internal market and help withdraw barriers to trade.

CEN and CENELEC have created a Joint Focus Group that will prepare an initial response to the mandate, by urgently assessing European needs and seeking to ensure that international standards meet these. The Focus Group hopes to complete its report by 31 March 2011. The Intelligent Transport community within ETSI is discussing the mandate with the Car-To-Car Consortium (C2C CC) in order to investigate the work that may be required to answer the communications aspects in reply to the mandate.

ETSI produces globally-applicable ICT standards, including fixed, mobile, radio, converged, aeronautical, broadcast and IP technologies. An independent, not-for-profit association, ETSI’s 740 member companies come from 62 countries worldwide.

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