CHAdeMO Developing Ultrafast Charging Standard With China (#CleanTechnica Interview)

Dave Yoshida, Secretary General at CHAdeMO and Senior Manager at Nissan.

The CHAdeMO Association recently announced that it had signed an MOU with the China Electricity Council to develop a next-generation ultrafast charging standard. Once developed, it is expected the standard will support the expansion of EV charging networks. Dave Yoshida, Secretary General at CHAdeMO and Senior Manager at Nissan Motor Company, answered some questions about this news for CleanTechnica.

In the press release it says a new standard is being developed “to prepare for the expected market needs in the future.” What are these expected market needs?

We expect that the initial “market needs” to be large vehicles such as trucks and buses, as well as industrial applications such as mining and around the port, followed by passenger vehicles with larger battery, for example.

How much faster might the new standard be than the current fast charging one?

So far we expect this to be 500 kW or more, but this is to be defined as we go.

Will the new standard be adopted in Europe and the US?

Our goal is the acceleration of EV adoption for the benefits of EV users. As long as these principles are shared, we are, and we have always been, open to all and any collaboration possible for harmonising standards. However, standard adoption follows different paths in different geography and we cannot make any predictions.

Why was an MOU signed with the China Electricity Council to develop the new standard?

China Electricity Council is responsible for EV charging standards in China. An MoU was a way to clarify our agreement and to announce our initiative to the rest of the world so that any parties interested in joining can do so.

How will the new standard advance the deployment of electric vehicles?

Again, our goal is the acceleration of EV adoption for the benefits of EV users. At this moment, the economy of scale has not kicked in and most OEMs are struggling to make tangible profits to accelerate EV production. If we can already expect a big enough market size (like that of China), it will surely encourage OEMs and charger manufacturers to accelerate the deployment of electric vehicles by offering their products, both on the vehicles and the charging infrastructure sides.

EV charging infrastructure is named as one of the “key obstacles” of EV adoption and our hope is to mitigate what we can. Therefore, for us, making a move towards the harmonisation of standards was an important message to signal to the current and future EV users to show our commitment and to appease the early movers.

Will the new standard be adopted first in Japan and China?


Again, the adoption paths are different by market and we cannot predict anything. That said, with the strong supports of both governments and our intention to ensure backward compatibility with GB/T and CHAdeMO, it is likely in these two markets you name that the new standard will be tested and installed first.

Why will creating a new standard be beneficial?

Creating a new standard was not the goal. It is the best available option to up the game without penalising the current users by ensuring backward compatibility. It was also very helpful that CHAdeMO and GB/T had high affinity, as both are based on CAN communication and were similar systems. FYI, Tesla’s system is also based on CAN communication, hence it was easy for them to produce CHAdeMO-Tesla adapters.

When you create a new standard, do you collaborate with manufacturers of EVs and charging stations?

Of course. CHAdeMO members include, among others OEMs, charger manufacturers, utility and EVSE operators. Our Tech WG meetings are open to all regular members and those who wish to have a say in the making voluntarily participate.