Electric Vehicles

Tesla picks a side in the Australian electric vehicle plug war

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A couple of recent announcements have heralded the end of the so-called “AC plug war” here in Australia, as well as potentially signalling the ending of the DC one too.

At the recent EV Expo at the Brisbane Convention Centre – the displayed Nissan Leaf was sporting not the expected type 1 charging socket that is standard for Japanese electric vehicles – but a Type 2, in line with the recommended AC plug choice for Australia.

This means that Type 1 plugs (as found in the original Leaf, iMiEV and most pre 2018 EVs here) are no longer offered by any new EV sold in Australia.

This also means that ALL new EVs sold in Australia will use the Type 2 socket that offers the benefit of a three phase charging option – allowing for charging either a Renault Zoe (at 22kW) or a BMWi3 (at 11kW) in less than three hours on AC.

With the paucity of DC fast-chargers in Australia a three phase AC charging option for a battery electric vehicle (BEV) makes sense. Regional, and even interstate trips are at least within the realm of practicable when combined with the 200–400km plus range of the current crop of BEVs.

Read the full story on RenewEconomy’s electric vehicle-dedicated site, The Driven…

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