This is an interesting post on ZD Net today about the electric car industry and the things the big car makers are doing (or not doing) to create a wider market for their electric cars.
This week, seven of the auto manufacturers with a vested interest in the electric vehicle market got together to say that they will standardize around a combined charging approach that will let their electric vehicles share the same fast-charging stations in Europe and the United States.
Those companies include the usual suspects: Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen. They plan to use HomePlug GreenPHY as the communications protocol (so keep an eye out for information about that technology specification, which is relevant for how charging stations talk to the broader smart grid). You’ll notice some big names missing from this list, such as Honda, Nissan and Toyota, which is worth a whole post in itself but really isn’t the point of this particular entry.
The fact that at least seven of the companies with electric vehicle aspirations are getting together to help standardize the charging infrastructure is significant, especially given the results of a survey released this month by Deloitte. The study (detailed in a report called “Unplugged: Electric vehicle realities versus consumer expectations”) suggested that consumers are unwilling to compromise on the performance they have come to expect in gasoline-powered vehicles. That means they aren’t willing to accept shorter traveling ranges, higher sticker prices or the inconvenience of having to wait for hours while their car charges.