Brand neutral charging in the future?

[mark sutton]

Hi all,

Thought this one might be of interest and it comes with some good knowledge from the Bicycle Association's technical man Peter Eland. Brands have obviously no commented, but industry grape vine suggests in the future a brand neutral charge standard may come to fruition, if the trade can come to an agreement, of course: https://cyclingindustry.news/is-a-brand-neutral-charging-standard-on-the-horizon-for-the-electric-bike-market/

 

[flecc]

Makes sense since public charge points are needed in countries with high densities of e-bikes, like The Netherlands. It could also drive the provision of high speed charging capability in e-bikes.

It will be interesting to see what it does to voltages, it could drive all designs to a 36 volts standard for the sake of simplicity and low cost provision.
.

 

[Trevormonty]

All it needs is 2 or 3 big brands (Bosch, shimano, brose) to come up with standard and every body else will follow or miss out.

 

[Danidl]

Makes sense since public charge points are needed in countries with high densities of e-bikes, like The Netherlands. It could also drive the provision of high speed charging capability in e-bikes.

It will be interesting to see what it does to voltages, it could drive all designs to a 36 volts standard for the sake of simplicity and low cost provision.
.

... What makes technical sense does not necessarily make commercial sense. Remember the difficulties in getting mobile phone manufacturers to agree to use the usb standard for charging, if a company has enough clout it will create its own standard, just to be different, and to force royalty payments from accessories manufacturers. Witness the iPhone...
What would make sense is to standardise on a specific 3 pin connector, and a standardised voltage. Say 48v. The battery packs would then need to be smart and adjust the voltage and current to suit it's needs. The circuitry required to do this would cost pence and weight only an once or two.
Although a fixed 41.5 voltage might appear suitable at present, there will almost certainly new chemistries at slightly different voltages and charging regimes.

 

[flecc]

... What makes technical sense does not necessarily make commercial sense. Remember the difficulties in getting mobile phone manufacturers to agree to use the usb standard for charging, if a company has enough clout it will create its own standard,

True, but in e-bikes I don't think any company has enough clout. Even the Bosch clout is restricted to a couple of EU countries and by no means unopposed even in those.

It's most likely that this attempt will all come to nothing.
.