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Europe, by most standards, is ahead of the U.S. in pushing for introduction of electric vehicles in the retail market, with various countries offering tax incentives and subsidies to buyers of the vehicles and, equally important, setting up national EV charging systems so the infrastructure will be there when the cars do start appearing in dealerships.


One reason the Continent can move more rapidly than the former colonies that is that each nation in the European Union is a much smaller unit than the U.S., making things like EV charger deployment a less formidable task. 


There's at least one key EV-boosting area in which the U.S. has been ahead of the EU nations, however - we manged some months ago to agree on a common plug and connector standard for all 50 states, and the District of Columbia, for Level 1 (110-volt) and Level 2 (240-volt) chargers.


That means  so that every automaker selling cars and trucks with grid- rechargeable batteries, and every EV charger maker, can sell the same system in all 50 sates (Canada, too, we understand) without having to provide different types of charging cords and "nozzles" that connected the car to the electrical source.


That's a benefit because it means economies of scale in manufacturing EV chargers and charger connectors that will help keep the costs down.


It means charger manufacturers won't have to supply multiple connectors for different makes and models of plug-in cars, and that that EV drivers wont have to keep half a dozen or so chargers in the cargo hold, each labeled for the various states or charger types with which it will work.


Now Europe has gotten on that bandwagon as well.
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Tags: Plug-ins and Electric, European Electric VEhicle Charger Standards, EV Charger Standards, EV Chargers

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As Electrification Push Continues, EU Carmakers Agree on EV-Charger Connectors was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.