SAE NACS standard

[billvon 2,400]

SAE just completed its NACS EV charging standard, which is a big deal for a few reasons.

First off, the NACS standard was formerly the Tesla standard, and thus hostage to an angry man-child who might (for example) pull it from the market if someone claimed it was woke.  With the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) behind it, it's now here to stay, and will be revised as needed by that organization.

(I predict this will, very shortly, lead to Tesla not following the NACS standard because it's not "theirs" any more - but it's a little too late for that.  In the long run they will have to.)

Second this standard supports simple charge-point outlets that look like the old Mennekes outlets common in the EU.  This means two things.  One, they will be easy to embed in things like parking meters without needing a cord along with all the cord-management hardware.  Two, they will be harder to vandalize; vandals will no longer be able to cut off the charging cable and take it to a recycling center to make a few cents.  This will lead to more working charge points around.  (The cable will come with the car, and will cost perhaps $200 to replace if needed.)

Third this standard extends the old 120 - 240 volt standard all the way up to 277 volts.  277 volts is the phase to neutral voltage of a 480 volt three phase supply, which is the standard power feed to things like large apartment buildings, big box stores and medium size industrial buildings.  This means no transformer needed to install chargers, and each charger will have to carry less current (25% less) leading to cheaper wiring, chargers and fixtures.  Installers will run wiring directly from the building's power feed to the chargers without needing that big transformer.

Overall these changes will mean more charging stations installed and fewer broken stations once they are installed - as well as lower operating costs for the company providing the charging.

[SethInMI 145]

An almost a-political post garnering no responses  . TIL that the Tesla connector uses the same pins for DC and AC power. Not sure why I didn't see that before...pretty slick.

I saw Bill said that he "expects" Tesla to change their connector, but I would be surprised at that. They have long championed it, and it can do all anyone needs right now.  1000v and >650A is a crazy amount of power.  I say "expects" because I think he was being a little sarcastic, but anyway we got a standard.    

[billvon 2,400]

2 hours ago, SethInMI said:

I saw Bill said that he "expects" Tesla to change their connector . . .

I don't think they will change the connector, but it would not surprise me to see (for example) Tesla stating they will not support 277 volts because reasons.  That results in a caveat if you want to plug your Tesla in anywhere using 277V.  Best case is that it just won't charge.