DC fast charging: J1772 CCS vs CHAdeMO vs Supercharger, etc.

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cwerdna

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
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Discuss DC fast charge standards such as J1772 CCS aka Frankenplug, CHAdeMO, Tesla's Supercharger, etc. here.

We can discuss technical aspects (well, I'm not the best guy for that), players on each side, seriousness of their BEV/PHEV programs, current and future DC FC deployments, protocols, etc.
 
I'm personally hopeful about Tesla's Superchargers because they're 1) inexpensive to build 2) being deployed rapidly and 3) support the highest charging rates (90kW now, soon 120kW.)

I would expect that whichever method ends up with the widest deployment (read: USA-wide) in the least amount of time will "win." I understand that's currently CHAdeMO, but Tesla is hot on their heels and none of the options have achieved country-wide saturation yet, so the jury's still out until that happens, IMHO.

Regardless, I expect to see adapters for cars that use other than whatever wins, as Tesla currently has available for their cars to use CHAdeMO. Further, once adapters are available to go from anything to anything else, then none of this really even matters, does it? At that point, all we'd care about is which stations can charge the fastest.
 
Pegasus said:
Regardless, I expect to see adapters for cars that use other than whatever wins, as Tesla currently has available for their cars to use CHAdeMO. Further, once adapters are available to go from anything to anything else, then none of this really even matters, does it? At that point, all we'd care about is which stations can charge the fastest.

No, there's not going to be legal adaptors available to use Tesla Superchargers in other cars whose manufacturer has not paid a licensing agreement to Tesla.
 
TonyWilliams said:
No, there's not going to be legal adaptors available to use Tesla Superchargers in other cars who's manufacturer has not paid a licensing agreement to Tesla.

What about third-party companies that want to produce such adapters (like Leviton, Schneider Electric, GE, etc.)? I don't see any reason they wouldn't make an agreement with Tesla if the potential market is large enough. Or Tesla could just make their own since the CEO's stated goal is to increase electrically-driven miles as much as possible.
 
Pegasus said:
TonyWilliams said:
No, there's not going to be legal adaptors available to use Tesla Superchargers in other cars who's manufacturer has not paid a licensing agreement to Tesla.

What about third-party companies that want to produce such adapters (like Leviton, Schneider Electric, GE, etc.)? I don't see any reason they wouldn't make an agreement with Tesla if the potential market is large enough. Or Tesla could just make their own since the CEO's stated goal is to increase electrically-driven miles as much as possible.

I wouldn't exclude that from happening, but expect the adaptor to cost $2500 or more.
 
Pegasus said:
TonyWilliams said:
No, there's not going to be legal adaptors available to use Tesla Superchargers in other cars who's manufacturer has not paid a licensing agreement to Tesla.

What about third-party companies that want to produce such adapters (like Leviton, Schneider Electric, GE, etc.)? I don't see any reason they wouldn't make an agreement with Tesla if the potential market is large enough. Or Tesla could just make their own since the CEO's stated goal is to increase electrically-driven miles as much as possible.
All I know is that if I spent $100,000 for a loaded Model S and pulled in to a Tesla Supercharger station to find a line of Spark EV's and Leafs using the EVSE's I'd be really pissed off. :x
 
markcmann said:
All I know is that if I spent $100,000 for a loaded Model S and pulled in to a Tesla Supercharger station to find a line of Spark EV's and Leafs using the EVSE's I'd be really pissed off. :x
LOL!

Well, a Model S w/Supercharging enabled starts at a little past $73K, before tax credits/incentives.
 
As consumers, we have to vote with our pocketbooks what we want to see when it comes to features like DC fast charging. It's really despicable that GM is making the fast charging an optional feature instead of having it standard on all cars; I do hope that in the next model year of the spark, that this feature is standard. But for the time being, I'm going to support putting on the road another DC fast charging car with the hopes of winning over the pessimists who think that EVs are a joke and impractical. It may be that I'll never use the DC fast charging capability even once over the lifetime of the vehicle, BUT if this charging standard does become more widespread over the next 6 - 8 years and I don't have this capability, I would sorely regret not having it. Also, if it is not rolled out, at least I made my "vote" for what I'd like to see as a standard in electric cars- these vehicles only viable future is fast charging, the masses will not be won over from a 4 -6 hour charge time.

Also, it makes sense to me that new DC chargers that are installed will have both Chademo and SAE plugs, either due to regulation (as posters on the Nissan Leaf Forum have linked to) or because a clear winner to the standard war really hasn't been determined as of yet. If this were the HD-DVD vs. Blue Ray war, the battle lines have just been drawn and who knows who will be deemed victor. In the end, it may be Tesla who wins out, but only time will tell. Progress has been made with standardization which makes me optimistic. The original Rav 4 EV's and GM EV1 had those paddle plugs that are now obsolete, but in this newest generation all cars have the same standard level I and II ports. So given it took a decade for that to be sorted out, we may not know until around 2020 which level III plug type comes out on top. I don't even hope it's SAE (though it would be convenient for me and my spark), just as long as there is an agreement.
 
xylhim said:
As consumers, we have to vote with our pocketbooks what we want to see when it comes to features like DC fast charging. It's really despicable that GM is making the fast charging an optional feature instead of having it standard on all cars; I do hope that in the next model year of the spark, that this feature is standard. But for the time being, I'm going to support putting on the road another DC fast charging car with the hopes of winning over the pessimists who think that EVs are a joke and impractical. It may be that I'll never use the DC fast charging capability even once over the lifetime of the vehicle, BUT if this charging standard does become more widespread over the next 6 - 8 years and I don't have this capability, I would sorely regret not having it. Also, if it is not rolled out, at least I made my "vote" for what I'd like to see as a standard in electric cars- these vehicles only viable future is fast charging, the masses will not be won over from a 4 -6 hour charge time.
DC FC (CHAdeMO) port is not standard on the Leaf either.

On the '13 Leaf, it's optional on the S and SV trims (via a package). It's standard on the SL trim.

For '11 and '12, there were only 2 trims: SV and SL. The S trim was the new cheap trim starting w/'13. IIRC, on '11 Leaf, you could only get the CHAdeMO port as an option on the highest (SL) trim. Per http://www.autoblog.com/2011/07/19/2012-nissan-leaf-higher-price-tag-standard-equipment/, for '12, it became standard on SL but unavailable on lower trim, SV.

Again, there are over 300 CHAdeMO DC FCs in the US, and over 3000 worldwide. In the US, many of them are on http://www.westcoastgreenhighway.com/electrichighways.htm in WA and OR. It let TonyWilliams fly thru those states when he did BC2BC 2012 (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=8879, a few videos at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC_NyzBb8V1glsBlJkZSVTw/videos). There's also a whole bunch in TN, since Nissan NA HQ is in Franklin, TN.

DC FC being enabled on the Tesla Model S isn't standard either. You need to have the 60 kwh or greater battery. For that model, you have pay $2000 have it enabled (or $2500 after delivery) for "free (Super)charging for life" (of the car). Or, you need to spend $10K extra for the 85 kwh battery, where Supercharging enabling is included.

Now that I think about it, I can't think of any US market EV w/DC FC standard on the base trim level. For all of them, it's optional (either as an option, package or higher trim). The rest don't have it at all. No US PHEVs have that capability either.

BTW from http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3550&p=4864#p4864
xylhim said:
I'm patiently waiting for the DC fast charging option to be made available. Yes, I know there is only that one charging station in San Diego that supports the SAE connector, and yes, I know it may take a while for the roll out of this infrastructure.
...
An electric car is a great investment for the future, and I'm going to make the bet that SAE will be rolled out more quickly than was the case for the CHademo standard.
What makes you say the bolded part?
 
I think it will be rolled out more quickly because the blink stations with CHAdeMO already have the circuitry to handle the voltage/amperage of DC chargers, so that's one barrier of entry less for SAE than starting from nothing with the original CHAdeMO stations. Not sure if blink plans to unroll SAE wide-scale, but I recall reading one post around here where the option appeared to be installed in a yet to be opened blink station in the Sacramento area.
 
xylhim said:
I think it will be rolled out more quickly because the blink stations with CHAdeMO already have the circuitry to handle the voltage/amperage of DC chargers, so that's one barrier of entry less for SAE than starting from nothing with the original CHAdeMO stations. Not sure if blink plans to unroll SAE wide-scale, but I recall reading one post around here where the option appeared to be installed in a yet to be opened blink station in the Sacramento area.
Blink?!?! You do realize that they went bankrupt, right? Their equipment is crap.

Why would they roll it out "wide-scale"? How many vehicles are shipping w/SAE J1772 CCS in the US?

Car Charging Group bought out bankrupt Ecotality but from http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=331916#p331916, they don't seem like a company on solid footing.
Q2 2013 Financial information about the Blink buyer: Car Charging group

http://www.hotstocked.com/article/66392/car-charging-group-inc-otcmkts-ccgi-back-above.html

Their winning bid was $3.35 million for the Blink assets

• cash: $165 thousand
• current assets: $1.1 million
• current liabilities: $8.9 million
• quarterly revenue: $77 thousand
• quarterly net loss: $5.6 million
• accumulated deficit: $26.8 million
A company that spends ~$5.718 million to generate a measly $77K in sales seem pretty shaky to me.

You can easily confirm these ridiculous revenue and net loss figures at http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com...150-158688&type=sect&dcn=0001213900-13-004715.

I can't speak to the status of the Nor Cal Blink CHAdeMO infrastructure (all of it was notoriously unreliable anyway) but from http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=338905#p338905, they seem to be neglecting it in TN.

Blink had a hard time keeping their infrastructure up and running, it seemed. It seems that's more important for the new owner along w/stopping the cash bleed. What return on investment (ROI) will they get by retrofitting existing Blink DC FCs to support a standard that no shipping vehicle in the currently US uses?

You do realize that the Spark EV sells in TINY numbers, right? If not, see http://insideevs.com/october-2013-plug-in-electric-vehicle-sales-report-card/ and http://insideevs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Monthly-Plug-In-Sales-Nov-2013-v4final.png.

The communication protocols between the car and the DC FC are different between CHAdeMO and Frankenplug. As I posted at http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3531&p=4701&hilit=greenphy#p4701
I believe J1772 CCS uses GreenPHY PLC while CHAdeMO uses CAN (Controller Area Network).

http://www.westcoastgreenhighway.com/ (which is currently only in WA and OR) is mostly (all?) Aerovironment CHAdeMO for the DC FCs, not Blink.
 
Hmm, that's too bad for the blink charging stations, I hope the company that bought them out has a more viable business model.

What I meant was that while two different stations might need to be installed at a site (or a single unit equiped for both standards), the basic eletrical requirements will have already been met at each location where CHAdeMO has been set up already.

I also don't think that the 300 CHAdeMO stations already deployed will make much of an impact in the long run in terms of what standard prevails. There are 112,000+ gas stations in the US alone; I'm not saying EV charging stations will ever approach that number, but there is huge room for growth here and plenty of time for the balance of power to shift.
 
xylhim said:
Hmm, that's too bad for the blink charging stations, I hope the company that bought them out has a more viable business model.
Doesn't seem like it. See above.
xylhim said:
I also don't think that the 300 CHAdeMO stations already deployed will make much of an impact in the long run in terms of what standard prevails. There are 112,000+ gas stations in the US alone; I'm not saying EV charging stations will ever approach that number, but there is huge room for growth here and plenty of time for the balance of power to shift.
There are 2700+ outside the US.

Ok, as for "balance of power to shift", please indicate which of the Frankenplug supporters (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=200825#p200825) have a serious BEV program and indicate estimated quantities of BEVs/PHEVs they will ship in the US in say 2014 or 2015. Which of those will have Frankenplug? How serious are those automakers about funding installation of Frankenplug DC FCs or pushing thru other means of getting them installed?

(Tesla is the by FAR the best example w/their proprietary standard and Nissan is a distant 2nd, getting their $15.5K (not including installation) http://nissanqc.com/ installed. Per my post at http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4693#p4693, the average cost of hardware and installation at a Nissan dealer is $49K.)

The below have some hints for you:
http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4683#p4683
http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4716#p4716
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/11/01/october-2013-auto-sales-results/

You can look up US auto sales for a given automaker pretty easily by Googling in this format: automaker reports sales month year (e.g. volkswagen reports sales october 2013).

Compare the figures you come up with to the leading players w/DC FC capable BEVs/PHEVs + their current installed base.

Hope you realize that in some other parts of the world (some (much?) of Europe), they're using Mennekes CCS instead? See http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/19331-BMW-i3/page15?p=439105&viewfull=1#post439105. I saw a recent post of a BMW i3 in Australia, which had the same Mennekes + 2 pins for DC FC. This so-called CCS standard isn't even a world standard.

http://shop.teslamotors.com/collections/model-s/products/chademo-adapter already struck another blow to Frankenplug. Right now, it's a 2 horse race for DC FC: CHAdeMO and Tesla Supercharger.
 
cwerdna said:
There are 2700+ outside the US.

I still don't think that makes a difference. The other countries have mass transportation systems set up much better than we do and the potential for growth abroad is much less than the potential for growth in the US where the automobile is the number one source of transportation.

cwerdna said:
Ok, as for "balance of power to shift", please indicate which of the Frankenplug supporters (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=200825#p200825) have a serious BEV program and indicate estimated quantities of BEVs/PHEVs they will ship in the US in say 2014 or 2015. Which of those will have Frankenplug? How serious are those automakers about funding installation of Frankenplug DC FCs or pushing thru other means of getting them installed?

Audi is a loss for EVs it would seem, at least at the moment.

BMW i3 w/ SAE in second quarter of 2014: https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/pressclub/p/us/pressDetail.html;jsessionid=r0V4STYSWfV2PRXhXcYhn2190TWkKgZ4V9Xmppq0jSgsTntLvX8Q!1814452534?title=born-electric-bmw-i3-charges-at-first-ever-public-charging-station-with-combo-charging-dc-fast&outputChannelId=9&id=T0147948EN_US&left_menu_item=node__8601

Fiat hasn't made a commitment on the DC charging standard yet, though saying they're going to do CHAdeMO is greater speculation than them going with SAE, as has been reported in press releases.

Diamler, same thing, from press releases they're going with SAE; it would be speculative to suggest they would do CHAdeMO.

Ford is again speculation, but since they announced their support for SAE, the evidence would point for that adoption in their future cars.

As for GM, why would they make all this noise about fast charging and immediately drop the standard?

Also, when Nissan first made available the leaf with fast charging, how many other auto manufactors had veichles with CHAdeMO installed? If SAE is going to be buried, wait until there's at least ONE car on the road before doing so.

cwerdna said:
The below have some hints for you:
http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4683#p4683
http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4716#p4716
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/11/01/october-2013-auto-sales-results/

You can look up US auto sales for a given automaker pretty easily by Googling in this format: automaker reports sales month year (e.g. volkswagen reports sales october 2013).

Compare the figures you come up with to the leading players w/DC FC capable BEVs/PHEVs + their current installed base.

The spark was just released this year, it will be the first car utilizing the standard. Again, how many CHAdeMO fast chargers were available with the first model year of the leaf that supported it?

The point I'm trying to make is at this time it is all just wild speculation. You provide evidence that the CHAdeMO standard has a head start, not that it has taken off. Tesla will do quite well rolling out its charging network, but will not make an affordable EV for at least another few years. Elon Musk may think SAE is a joke, but he also believes in electric cars and I speculate that if cars are on the road that supports a particular standard, you may see wider adoption of stations (including tesla superchargers) with multiple charging options.
 
^^^
So, out of the bunch, BMW is the only one w/a serious BEV program, but again, you're correct, it the i3 doesn't ship until 2Q 2014 and it has an optional range extender engine. Base price on the 4-seater i3 (w/o REx engine) is $41,350, ~$14.5K more than a Spark EV and ~$12.5K more than a 5-seater midsized (per EPA classification) Leaf.

Give some estimates as to how many they will ship in their 1st year in the US and 2nd year along w/how you arrived at it.

The rest aren't doing squat. The delayed Tesla-based Mercedes B-Class BEV won't have ANY DC FC capability. Have you looked at the tiny numbers of BEVs that Chevy, Ford, and Fiat are selling in the US, none of which have DC FC.

The Fiat 500e is a CA ZEV compliance car that their CEO doesn't like making in the first place (http://green.autoblog.com/2012/05/30/marchionne-were-only-making-fiat-500-ev-because-californias-f/). The Spark EV is barely more than a CA compliance car.

Out of the above players, serious and otherwise, how serious are they about getting J1772 CCS DC FCs infrastructure installed? In other words: putting their money where there mouth is.

It seems the only purpose of Frankenplug is to create consumer confusion and slow down Nissan. Some of the posts here on this forum are perfect examples of the consumer confusion it created.

From http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=183351#p183351 in March 2012 (reasonably accurate for the time):
walterbays said:
Ford press release said:
Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen agreed to support a harmonized single-port fast charging approach for use on electric vehicles in Europe and the United States
Translation: Seven European and US auto makers declare that the Japanese quick charging standard, currently with over 1,000 chargers and tens of thousands of vehicles worldwide, cannot be used. Three of the seven sell BEV's in small scale pilot test programs. One sells production quantities of an EREV which neither has nor needs quick charging. None sell BEV's in full production, and none have announced plans to sell any BEV that can use quick charging. And no company has announced plans to build an SAE quick charger - if the standard existed yet.
Look at the barbs that GM was tossing at http://www.torquenews.com/1075/gm-and-nissan-trade-punches-over-electric-car-fast-charging from mid 2012
Balch went on to describe the current situation as a "hodgepodge of fast charging standards" with Tesla having its own proprietary level 3 system, Nissan and Mitsubishi using CHADEMO. He noted that last week, at EVS26, an alliance of 8 automakers (including GM) announced support for a the "combo plug" designed by the SAE DC Fast Charging committee. He described this as "a new standard," one "that is going to come, probably before the end of this year," meaning the SAE committee is expected to approve the standard this summer, charging stations are expected to become available late in the year, and cars to become available in 2013.

The bombshell then landed when Balch said "we need to make sure, especially because we're talking about taxpayer money, that ONLY those standards are installed going forward." Meaning that because the SAE DC Fast Charge standard is the only "standardized" fast charging system, this is the system to endorse. Balch was actually boooo'd at this point, but he went on to remind us of the past history, that we know its a bad move to have competing charging connector standards. Finally, he said "there is a very small group of cars that use a non-standardized level 3 charging connector," referring to the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i-MiEV and the upcoming Tesla Model S.
Right... so about 1.5 years later, 0 Frankenplug capable cars have shipped in the US and there are virtually 0 publicly accessible Frankenplug DC FCs.

TonyWilliams posted a reasonably accurate count at http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4687#p4687 (shared by the Leaf and i-Miev and its PSA Citroen-badged version).
xylhim said:
Also, when Nissan first made available the leaf with fast charging, how many other auto manufactors had veichles with CHAdeMO installed?"
I don't know CHAdeMO and the compatible BEV history but http://www.chademo.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Brochureshort20130327.pdf mentions
The R&D of CHAdeMO dates back to 2005. After more than four years of thorough testing and on-site fleet demonstration, the first commercial CHAdeMO charging infrastructure has been commissioned in 2009.
The first Leaf didn't ship until December 2010. i-Miev came before, but I don't off of the top of my head know when the first CHAdeMO ones were in use.

http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS/2010/_STORY/100521-01-e.html was announced in May 2010.

BTW, to put throw out some other numbers in perspective, Nissan/Renault, which do have serious EV programs have sold more than 75K Leafs worldwide and over 100K EVs between the two of them: http://insideevs.com/global-nissan-leaf-sales-zip-past-75000/ and http://nissannews.com/en-US/nissan/usa/releases/a95e2c2c-8ce6-42ea-822d-3732c0588870.

They've made some bold promises about DC FCs: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11426 and http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13522 and have done a not-so-good job of delivering, so far.

From http://insideevs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Monthly-Plug-In-Sales-Nov-2013-v4final.png, that I linked to earlier, Nissan's averaging ~1800 Leafs/month in the US (and I mentioned the average of $49K per DC FC install at a dealer). The Spark EV in 5 months has sold about 1/5th what Nissan moves in a month.

You really think GM is going to bankroll for DC FCs somewhere like at their dealers w/those kind of costs coupled w/tiny sales of essentially a CA ZEV compliance car?
 
I don't think that Chevy, or any of the other auto manufactures are going to have much choice in the matter of installing a DC fast charging network. By 2025, fuel standards on average for every fleet of commercially available cars will have to be 54.5 MPG: http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2012/Obama+Administration+Finalizes+Historic+54.5+mpg+Fuel+Efficiency+Standards

So this won't just be a California thing by then, the whole country will have to have access to low emission vehicles. Knowing that large pickup trucks will still be sold at that time, I doubt hybrids/clean diesels will be enough to offset that low fuel economy average. EVs and plug in hybrids will have to become part of the picture for all auto manufactures, whether or not they like it and for them to be viable, DC fast charging has to be an option.

You may be right that SAE is going to be giant flop, but I'm still voting for it and I want the spark, not the leaf- so I go with SAE.
 
xylhim said:
As consumers, we have to vote with our pocketbooks what we want to see when it comes to features like DC fast charging.

I think this is a great attitude, and I completely agree. People can talk all they want, but manufacturers will listen to $$$$ a lot sooner than very loud requests.

xylhim said:
... I want the spark, not the leaf- so I go with SAE.

Ditto. I have a Leaf with Chademo...it was the best there was when I got it, but now there is better. I want a sporty, affordable, electric car with fast charging capability. The Spark EV is a great combination of price, power to weight ratio, and has fast charging. It's also not lease only, which is a benefit for me. I expect that SAE combo chargers will become more prevalent in the next few years (just as chademo chargers became more prevalent over the last few years) and I am going in with the understanding that my car is ahead of the infrastructure currently available (just like the Leaf was when it first came out).

I have wanted a car like the Spark EV to exist since I was a kid. Well, here it is...better put my money where my mouth is and show manufacturers that this is the type of vehicle I want to see more of. I would absolutely LOVE for more sporty, affordable, fast charging options to choose from. Meanwhile, I'm getting the Spark EV. If nobody buys the good stuff out there now, we'll never get the next generation that is cheaper/better/faster!

Portland has been an absolute great place for EV infrastructure and I'm excited that it's currently a race to see if the first SAE combo charger is installed here before the first combo charger capable vehicle is sold here. Just in time infrastructure! :)

Bryce
 
VHS vs Betamax, here we go again. And don't forget those 10" LaserDiscs. Chademo began in Japan, and is backed by Japanese car makers (primarily Nissan and Mitsubishi). US makers are late to the party but they are backing SAE. Europeans seem to be inching away from chademo. Regardless of which standard is better, the one with the strongest backers will win (beta was a superior technology to VHS). I'd say that smart money is on SAE in the long run if you live in the US. No way that gm ford and Chrysler are going to let the Japanese keep their first-mover advantage. And they have considerable sway with regulators in both Europe and the Americas.

Tesla supercharger stations will only ever be for the exclusive Telsa club, which is exactly how Tesla owners will want to keep it. Spark adapter? There goes the neighborhood...
 
xylhim said:
By 2025, fuel standards on average for every fleet of commercially available cars will have to be 54.5 MPG: http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2012/Obama+Administration+Finalizes+Historic+54.5+mpg+Fuel+Efficiency+Standards
Do keep in mind that "54.5 mpg" is a bunch of intentionally confusing doublespeak. Per http://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/faq-new-corporate-average-fuel-economy-standards.html
The talked-about 2025 CAFE standard — usually described as 54.5 mpg — amounts to a figure of 36 mpg Combined on a window sticker.
I've griped about the doublespeak at http://priuschat.com/threads/epa-and-dot-to-require-54-5-mpg-by-2025.100196/#post-1420249 and elsewhere before.

My Gen 2 Prius already counts as getting over "65 mpg" for CAFE purposes. The current (Gen 3 Prius) counts for over "70 mpg" for CAFE purposes... A few more examples at http://priuschat.com/threads/americans-strongly-favor-raising-fuel-economy-standards-to-50-mpg-poll-finds.80511/#post-1125402.
SenorChispa said:
. Regardless of which standard is better, the one with the strongest backers will win (beta was a superior technology to VHS). I'd say that smart money is on SAE in the long run if you live in the US. No way that gm ford and Chrysler are going to let the Japanese keep their first-mover advantage. And they have considerable sway with regulators in both Europe and the Americas.
Really? So where are the serious EV programs from GM, Ford and Chrysler?

Chrysler doesn't even want to make their CA ZEV compliance car.

The FFE is selling so poorly that it's not much more than a compliance car and I'd heard some reports on Tivocommunity of just some weird Ford dealers re: the FFE, so bad to the point of them not needing enemies/competitors.

GM? They certainly don't have a serious BEV program.

Where are SAE J1772 CCS capable BEVs or PHEVs from the above?

Leaf has passed 35K units in the US awhile ago. Renault-Nissan Alliance is past 100K BEVs worldwide (over 75K of which are Leafs). Nissan has put in some serious money to help grow their CHAdeMO infrastructure.

Tesla is growing like crazy and also put in some serious $ and effort into their infrastructure: http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger. Drag the slider under the map. Click on the links to the stations. You'll notice that most (all?) have multiple charging stalls to boot, unlike the usual 1 or 2 handled CHAdeMO stations (all by themselves) one typically finds.

Which ones are the strong/strongest backers now?
 
Don't get me wrong. I believe Tesla will succeed, just don't expect to ever be able to charge your Spark or Leaf at one of their stations.

I do think that chademo will eventually succumb to SAE in the long run, despite chademo's early momentum, and that both standards will coexist for at least 5 years. The best case scenario for drivers is adapters that allow us to charge at either type. Worst case is a dragged out standards battle driven by makers hoping to cripple each other in the market.
 
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