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The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation today announced the launch of the National Charging Experience Consortium (ChargeX Consortium), a new initiative led by U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories that “will work to rapidly develop solutions that ensure a reliable and frictionless charging experience for all Americans.” At least 29 transportation organizations, including BMW, Ford Motor, GM, Rivian, Stellantis, and J.D. Power are part of the progressive, awakened effort to save Planet Earth from extinction.
“Argonne National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will collaborate with organizations representing a cross-section of the electric vehicle (EV) charging industry on complex issues that require multi-stakeholder collaboration to solve and simplify. This effort aligns with the Joint Office mission to accelerate an electrified transportation system that is affordable, convenient, equitable, reliable, and safe and fulfills a specific mandate to plan, coordinate, and implement data sharing to inform the buildout of a national charging network,” DOE said in a release.
“The national labs provide the independent expertise needed to fix the most challenging, systemic problems that can impact the customer charging experience,” said consortium director John Smart of Idaho National Lab. “The national lab team shares a sense of urgency and has identified an aggressive timeframe that aligns with the United States’ accelerating transition to electric transportation.”
During the next two years, the national labs will collaborate with industry to measure and identify opportunities to significantly improve the customer experience with public EV charging infrastructure in the United States. The consortium sets a goal that public charging stations nationwide will provide a charge to vehicles the first time, every time. This new, clearly aspirational, goal is not enforceable. However, it complements federal requirements of greater than 97% uptime to ensure that each customer can successfully and easily charge at public charging stations.
The national laboratories will closely collaborate with organizations representing a cross-section of the EV industry to address three problematic areas:
- Payment processing and user interface
- Vehicle-charger communication
- Diagnostic data sharing.
Teams working in these three areas will exchange information to help the national labs identify best practices to address common problems and share them with the entire industry. The national labs will also work with consumer advocacy groups to inform ways to measure the customer charging experience and collect customer feedback to track industry improvement over time. Based on this work, the national labs will develop a proposal for a voluntary program that recognizes charging station operators for providing excellent charging experience.
The ChargeX Consortium builds on the foundation for charging reliability established by the minimum standards for Federal Highway Administration Title 23 funded EV charging infrastructure projects. It also complements two other Joint Office-supported efforts:
- The Joint Office Ride and Drive Electric Funding Opportunity Announcement that intends to improve EV charging performance and reliability by, in part, increasing commercial capacity for testing and certification of high-power EV chargers and validating high-power EV charger real-world performance and reliability.
- The creation of a centralized data platform for EV charger data reporting that will facilitate and maximize access to data and insights that could inform future charging reliability analysis.
The Joint Office has hired Sarah Hipel as its standards and reliability program manager. “Many companies are working hard to bring sophisticated electric vehicles, chargers, and charging networks to market, but it takes strong collaboration across the industry to ensure that the national charging network is reliable and user-friendly for all,” said Hipel. “The ChargeX Consortium, paired with other Joint Office efforts, will amplify and safeguard public and private investment to grow and improve the quality of the nation’s public charging infrastructure.”
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
ChargeX Consortium to Improve EV Charging Announced by the US Department of Energy National Laboratories
Click for more information.
The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation today announced the launch of the National Charging Experience Consortium (ChargeX Consortium), a new initiative led by U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories that “will work to rapidly develop solutions that ensure a reliable and frictionless charging experience for all Americans.” At least 29 transportation organizations, including BMW, Ford Motor, GM, Rivian, Stellantis, and J.D. Power are part of the progressive, awakened effort to save Planet Earth from extinction.
“Argonne National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will collaborate with organizations representing a cross-section of the electric vehicle (EV) charging industry on complex issues that require multi-stakeholder collaboration to solve and simplify. This effort aligns with the Joint Office mission to accelerate an electrified transportation system that is affordable, convenient, equitable, reliable, and safe and fulfills a specific mandate to plan, coordinate, and implement data sharing to inform the buildout of a national charging network,” DOE said in a release.
“The national labs provide the independent expertise needed to fix the most challenging, systemic problems that can impact the customer charging experience,” said consortium director John Smart of Idaho National Lab. “The national lab team shares a sense of urgency and has identified an aggressive timeframe that aligns with the United States’ accelerating transition to electric transportation.”
During the next two years, the national labs will collaborate with industry to measure and identify opportunities to significantly improve the customer experience with public EV charging infrastructure in the United States. The consortium sets a goal that public charging stations nationwide will provide a charge to vehicles the first time, every time. This new, clearly aspirational, goal is not enforceable. However, it complements federal requirements of greater than 97% uptime to ensure that each customer can successfully and easily charge at public charging stations.
The national laboratories will closely collaborate with organizations representing a cross-section of the EV industry to address three problematic areas:
Teams working in these three areas will exchange information to help the national labs identify best practices to address common problems and share them with the entire industry. The national labs will also work with consumer advocacy groups to inform ways to measure the customer charging experience and collect customer feedback to track industry improvement over time. Based on this work, the national labs will develop a proposal for a voluntary program that recognizes charging station operators for providing excellent charging experience.
The ChargeX Consortium builds on the foundation for charging reliability established by the minimum standards for Federal Highway Administration Title 23 funded EV charging infrastructure projects. It also complements two other Joint Office-supported efforts:
The Joint Office has hired Sarah Hipel as its standards and reliability program manager. “Many companies are working hard to bring sophisticated electric vehicles, chargers, and charging networks to market, but it takes strong collaboration across the industry to ensure that the national charging network is reliable and user-friendly for all,” said Hipel. “The ChargeX Consortium, paired with other Joint Office efforts, will amplify and safeguard public and private investment to grow and improve the quality of the nation’s public charging infrastructure.”
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.