Engineering On The Edge

One of the problems with advances in technology is a pretty basic one. Everything wants a power cord or USB attachment of its very own, and usually these cords don’t play well together. Borrowing a phrase from Douglas Adams, I call this the “Dongly Things” syndrome.

If you have more than two tech devices, you undoubtedly have a box or drawer full of assorted wires, cables and plugs. All these Dongly Things seem to generate new Dongly Things when you aren’t looking. I’ve often wished manufacturers would get together to reduce the amount of stuff I have to account for.

Combined Charging System. Courtesy of GM.

It appears as though automakers in the U.S. and Germany have heard the lamentations of the masses and decided to relent on systems that recharge electric vehicles (EV) and not add Very Large Dongly Things to the collection. Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen have gotten together to support a single system for fast charging they call the Combined Charging System.

According to a press release from GM:

 The combined charging system integrates one-phase AC-charging, fast three-phase AC-charging, DC-charging at home and ultra-fast DC-charging at public stations into one vehicle inlet. This will allow customers to charge at most existing charging stations regardless of power source and may speed more affordable adoption of a standardized infrastructure.

The charging system is the result of a coordinated effort at designing a system that creates a unified standard for identical electrical systems, charge controllers, package dimensions and safety mechanisms. Both the International Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and ACEA, the European association of vehicle manufacturers, haven given the system a thumbs up and made it a standard for future vehicles.

Hopefully other automobile manufacturers will fall in line and help make the transition to EV that much easier.

Below you’ll find a video about electric vehicles.

Source: General Motors