J1772 Level 2 EV Plug
January 15, 2010
I was just notified by Pat Ebejer that the J-1772 Standard is now published and can be had at the SAE store -
http://www.sae.org/technical/standards/J1772_201001
September 23, 2009
I had the opportunity to see a real J1772 plug today. Pima Association of Governments bi monthly meeting of Clean Cities had a demo of Coulombs J1772 charger station putting juice into a locally owned Tesla. The J1772 was connected to a TEP box by what looked like just a plain old 240v stove plug. They plugged the J1772 into a homemade adapter box that had the J1772 female inlet in it, and in turn had a Tesla plug at the other end.
Check out http://www.coulombtech.com for more info on the charging program. It is actually a very sophisticated charger, networks with other chargers, will text you messages, has "Smart-Grid" technology, etc. Months ago, when I first learned that the Couloumb charger was going to be used here, I went to their web site and got one of the Smart Cards, it was a very easy process. Maybe if we all get cards, they might give us the specs for the signals so we can build our own adapters?
Eric of Couloumb Tech said that the plug was only being certified to 240v/30amps by UL even though it is rated at 50 amps. This means, that for a Tesla to be fully charged it would take about 6 hrs instead of 3 hrs at 50 amps. I wonder why Yazaki or whoever ordered the UL certification does not want the full spec tested? Is it because the Leaf, Volt, MiniE and other EV's that the industry is pushing can't accept 50 amps or is it because the product, the charging station, would have to upgrade the size of the wire?
I asked Colleen of PAG how many charging stations will be installed in Tucson, she said between 200 and 250. A pretty good number. The cost of the charging per kwh is still to be determined. Using the 200 number that averages out to about 1 charging station for each 3000 people (pop 600,000), or about 1 charger per square mile, which is pretty good. But where will they be?
There was also a presentation of Smith EV's, http://www.smithelectricvehicles.com Smith's uses Valence Lithium Ion http://www.valence.com and they have contracted with Ford for Gliders. They are very positive about the future of EV delivery trucks.
This was a great presentation of EV support for Tucson, Thanks Colleen and PAG.
6/2/09
Well this is it, the long awaited SAE J1772 Level 2 EV plug...
| http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/04/26/sae-2009-yazakis-booth-proudly-displays-j1772-connector/ |
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At the SAE World Congress last week, one of the more important technical discussions revolved around a new connector standard for plug-in vehicles called J1772. As we mentioned in our write-up of the progress made at the event, the Yazaki company was behind the connector's original design. The Yazaki booth at the Congress drew our attention thanks to a small-scale frame car model that showed off the company's products. You can see in the gallery some of the parts, like the connection system and DC to DC converter. The highlight, of course, was the plug. You can see the inside of the connector above, but what you can't tell is that all of those circles are retractable. They slide up to cover the actual connection points so that the risk of electric shock is minimized. Yazaki calls it "finger safe, touch-proof contacts." The mechanism is robust, Yazaki says, and should be good for over 10,000 insertion/removal cycles. If you plug in twice a day, that's something like 13 years of service. Sound reasonable?
Sebastian Blanco |
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| They also had a neat little mock-up of an EV... |
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| http://www.sae.org/mags/aei/elect/6216 |
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The standard as currently written specifies five pins for the connector, a Yazaki design of which was undergoing testing at Underwriters Laboratories as of late March, according to Gery Kissel, Engineering Specialist, RESS Charging Systems, Charging Codes, Standards, & Infrastructure, General Motors Corp. He is serving as Chair of the SAE Hybrid J1772 Task Force and is a member of the SAE Hybrid Technical Committee.
“The tricky parts of UL testing were done first—things like the connector must live through 10,000 insertions, it must be able to be driven over by a vehicle,” said Kissel in an AEI interview March 27. “We know those typical tests have already passed. So we’re into the more mundane tests now. And the supplier that tooled the connector has done internal testing. They have done the same testing as UL, but they did it internally so it can’t be certified. But they have passed all the tests. UL has done the difficult tests, and they look good.”
UL has committed to finish testing this month, Kissel noted.
“My goal is to have [J1772 standard] document ready before the UL testing is done so all we have to do in committee is take the finalized drawing, drop into the document, then go through the balloting process,” he said.
The purpose of the standard is to minimize costs and maximize simplicity for owners of electrified vehicles by avoiding the proliferation of different connectors and interfaces. “You don’t want 10 different connectors. By standardizing, you’re reducing costs and everyone is using the same thing. All the charging equipment you would pull up to in public would have the same identical connectors so any vehicle could use it. It will be a consistent, reliable interface,” Kissel explained.
The standard as now written addresses ac level 1 and ac level 2 charging; dc charging will be addressed at some point in the future, according to Kissel.
The coupler consists of:
• Two pins for power (ac line 1 and ac line 2/neutral)
• One pin for ground
• One pin for signals related to the amount of current allowed for the particular vehicle model being charged
• One pin for preventing the car from being moved while charging is under way.
In addition to electrical aspects such as the size and location of the various pins (there are three pin sizes), the standard addresses mechanical aspects such as the coupler’s outer shell and the latching function. It defines the space the handle may occupy, but not the design of the handle.
The coupler can be used for charging from 110- or 220-V outlets, both from home and from public charging stations.
The standard references the National Electrical Code for the cord and UL for shock protection, according to Kissel.
Kissel said “charging stations” is a misnomer in that they are mere suppliers of ac current to the vehicle. The actual charging devices are located on the vehicle and convert the stations’ ac current into dc current for the battery. The stations constitute what is called the EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment), which provides shock protection, as well as a signal that is sent to the car that tells it how much current can be drawn. “That’s done so the circuit breakers upstream do not trip,” said Kissel. “You could plug a car in and if it’s a big, strong electric vehicle it wants to draw a lot of current; it wants to charge quickly. But a plug-in wants to draw a little less. So the [EVSE] equipment tells the vehicle, hey, you can have 12 A or you can have 50 A out of me. So, there’s that type of communication that occurs. The standard defines how that’s done. |
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Patrick Ponticel |
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| Another article I read mentioned that if there were no signals, then the connector would only deliver 12 amps at 120 vac, making it a Level 1 connector which would satisfy lots of the existing chargers that we have. |
3/28/09
It seems that Somebody has decided on a plug standard for recharging Electric Vehicles that are going to be industry produced, but nobody has the Specs yet. The below was posted by http://www.ecosilly.com on 2008/12/02 -
Coulomb Technologies Showcasing SAE J1772 Networked Charging Stations for Plug-in Vehicles
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| The prototype J1772 unit. Click to enlarge. |
Coulomb Technologies (earlier post) is showcasing prototypes of Level 2 high power networked charging stations that will comply with the new SAE J1772 Electric Vehicle Conductive Charge Coupler Specification at the EDTA conference 2-4 December in Washington, DC.
SAE has been making modifications to the older J1772 REV NOV 2001 standard, moving toward a smaller (and less expensive) coupler made by Yazaki to replace the former Avcon connector. The new SAE J1772 standard is being finalized now, and may be balloted by the first quarter of 2009.
The J1772 standard specifies a specific 5-pin plug (two power, two signal, one ground) for single-phase supply up to 80A.
The industry in the US will standardize on the J1772 coupler; because the plug on the car can be a costly item in moderate volumes, standardization is the preferred route for the industry. The California Air Resources Board (CARB), for example, which incorporates the older J1772 standard in its recharging requirements, will update the requirements to the new standard.
The connector may also become the standard in Japan, where the SAE and the Japanese standard body are making good cooperation. Although a proposal has been made to incorporate the SAE connector interface in IEC standards although Italy and Germany are proposing alternative connectors. (Design for single-phase power is problematic for countries where 3-phase is also used, notes Cyriacus Bleijs, Chairman IEC TC69.)
In an October update on the J1772 process to an EPRI infrastructure working group for plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), GM’s Gery Kissel said that due to potential arcing damage, the J1772 Task Force is recommending the coupler design for AC Level 1 and 2 charging only. The AC level 1 definition was changed to 120 VAC, single-phase, 20A to be consistent with the NEC. A Level 3 (fast charge) working group has been created, chaired by Dave Francis of AeroVironment.
In a July draft of the new EV charging requirements, ARB staff noted that:
This new Yazaki coupler will, however, be able to deliver much more than the former Level II power limit (6.6 kW), perhaps as much as 16-19 kW. This medium power capability is necessary in order to obtain reasonable charge times with upcoming long-range BEVs. Tesla Motors will be shipping their Roadster in 2008 with a 52 kWhr battery. With the former Level II charge limits of 6.6 kW, charge times for a 52 kWhr battery would become unreasonably long, perhaps as much as 7-8 hours. This charge time duration would extend beyond preferred late-evening low-cost Utility rate schedules, while a medium-power 3-4 hour charge could be scheduled to “fit” better into these upcoming schedules.
It is assumed that high power capable EVs (50+ kW) would now make use of a separate on-vehicle higher-power inlet standard that is yet to be developed. Overall, the attractiveness of all PHEVs and BEVs making use of an consistent, almost worldwide J1772-Yazaki-based low-to-medium power connection standard more than outweighs the loss of potential high power capability with the former Avcon connector. The need for and attractiveness of higher “fast charge” power capability for EVs is not yet proven to be necessary to market BEVs.
Here is a link http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/zevprog/hevtest/071608evchargingreq.pdf to the Draft that CARB is proposing. SAE (as of 3/27/09) still has not come up with a finalized versions for the Hybrid J1772 Task Force Committee.
But we EVer's are creative people, here are a couple of sites with various adapters -
- John has come up with this kit for any charging occasion ,
- Nick's adapters
Also look at the variety of plugs that are already on EV's.
Roger, a regular contributor to the Electric Vehicle Discussion List says this -
What I've heard, and obviously it can change again before it is "official", is that the J1772 charge outlet (grid side) will provide a signal that tells the charger how much AC current is available; the vehicle inlet (charger side) has to provide a signal to the J1772 outlet asking it to turn on and telling it whether or not the vehicle uses batteries that require the charger area to be ventilated (so the station can turn on the ventilation fans, or refuse to charge if it cannot provide ventilation).
As I recall the basic signal between the vehicle and outlet that lets the outlet know to turn on the juice and lets the vehicle know that it has been plugged in is a single wire and just requires the vehicle to look for the right signal voltage level and apply the proper load (simple resistor) to let the charging station/outlet know a vehicle is plugged in and wants to charge.
As I recall, the signal from the charge station to the vehicle that tells the charger how much current the outlet can provide is a PWM signal whose duty cycle varies in a defined way according to the amount of current available.
The new proposal requires the outlet to "talk" to the car so the car knows it is plugged in and so it knows how much current it is allowed to draw from the outlet. Your production EV charger will not run unless the vehicle receives the appropriate signals from the outlet. Doesn't make it impossible, just means you'll need a more "intelligent" adapter cord.
What I am hoping for is that someone (with a little more technical knowledge than I have), will step up to the pedestal, so to speak, and either produce that Intelligent Adapter for a 'fair' price or either open source the circuit/schematics so that we can all build one and have more than one place to charge from.
We could conceivably cut down on the number of batteries in our packs since we wouldn't have 'charging anxiety'. We could use our EV's more often since we would be charging while shopping at Wal-Mart's, then while eating at McDonalds, then shopping at the Mall, then while watching the game at the Stadium - the fast charging would make all day driving a dream.
I find that it could really be a win-win situation, we just have to do it.
The Charging Stations are coming to Tucson, that is a fact. They will be here in 2010 with the new Nissan EV's. I want to be able to use the stations, let's get an Adapter designed....
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