The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation announced the new National Charging Experience Consortium (ChargeX Consortium) which aims to improve public EV charging in the United States in the next two years to such a degree that “public charging stations nationwide will provide a charge to vehicles the first time, every time,” according to the Department of Energy.
The consortium, which is a government initiative, will be led by three major labs – the Argonne National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory – which will collaborate with big names from the EV industry to come up with solutions for making public charging better across the country.
Currently, ChargeX has commitments from almost 30 companies, including Tesla, Rivian, General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, BMW, Electrify America, and ChargePoint.
To achieve its ambitious goal of making public chargers in the US work the first time, every time, the consortium will try to address three of the biggest issues that currently affect the multitude of charging operators in the country:
- Payment processing and user interface;
- Vehicle-charger communication;
- Diagnostic data sharing.
In other words, the group will try to pull data from its members and work out a way to make all the different EV models out there work seamlessly with all of the public chargers throughout the country.
"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."
According to the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, the national laboratories will also work with consumer advocacy groups to collect customer feedback and track industry development over time, as well as develop solutions for EV and charger software before it is deployed to the general public to ensure that every charger on the market works with any given EV in the US.
It's an admirable initiative with an ambitious goal, but we'd like to know what you think about it, so head over to the comments section below to give us your thoughts.
