As automakers across the entire industry begin to add electrified vehicles to their lineups, one thing still remains a major barrier to American drivers adopting them in large numbers– charging. The public charging infrastructure in the country is growing, but it is still very much in its early stages, and until it’s more developed, EVs will still remain a minority on the roads. Together with Ford and a number of other organizations in a cross-industry consortium, this is what the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation is hoping to address.
The National Charging Experience Consortium (or ChargeX Consortium) is an initiative organized by the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation to build long-term EV charging solutions and develop infrastructure that will make the service easy to access and use for vehicle owners everywhere. The recent announcement of this effort included a list of giants in the automotive industry and others that are joining the consortium, including Ford, Electrify America, J.D. Power and Associates, Tesla, SAE Sustainable Mobility Solutions, and more. Some of the main goals that these organizations will be collaborating on in the near future include improving payment processing, user interfaces and vehicle-to-charger communication, as well as gathering collaborative diagnostic data for future sharing.
"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 Sarah Hipel, standards and reliability program manager for the ChargeX consortium. "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."
The Argonne National Laboratory, the Idaho National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will all be contributing their technical expertise to this effort while partners like Ford contribute industry knowledge. All in all, the entire consortium shares the common goal of working together to build a public charging network that is affordable, convenient, reliable, and safe.
“Creating a seamless and simple public charging experience requires collaboration across the entire electric vehicle ecosystem, and remains key to accelerating EV adoption and providing customers with range confidence,” said Bill Crider, head of global charging and energy services, Ford Motor Company. “Bringing together a cross-section of industry, academia and government will address current challenges and drive swift improvements to the entire charging experience, helping Ford customers and all EV drivers realize all the benefits of driving electric.”
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