The sale of electric vehicles is booming. According to Statista, with nearly 7 million EVs sold in 2021, sales have doubled compared with the previous year. In Europe, electric vehicles outsold diesel cars in December for the first time. In 18 countries, more than 20% of new cars sold were electric.

To help ensure that electric vehicles operate and connect safely to the electricity grid, IEC Standards are needed. The standards developed in the IEC 62196 series, specify the requirements for plugs, socket-outlets, vehicle connectors, vehicle inlets to interface between the EV and the EV charging system. Known as “accessories” for electric vehicles, they are used for conducive charging systems such as the Combined Charging System (CCS) and CHAdeMO.

A new edition of the first part of IEC 62196 has now been published. IEC 62196-1, Plugs, socket-outlets, vehicle connectors and vehicle inlets - Conductive charging of electric vehicles - Part 1: General requirements describes the interface between the electric vehicle and the charging station and defines the requirements and test methods for the accessories used.

According to Joseph Bablo, who helped lead the revisions to the standard, “With this new edition, we have made significant technical changes which include additional requirements for contact materials as well as additional tests for accessories to address thermal stresses and stability, mechanical wear and abuse, and exposure to contaminants.”

IEC 62196-1 has been developed by IEC Subcommittee 23H, Plugs, socket­outlets and couplers for industrial and similar applications, and for electric vehicles. It replaces the previous edition which was published in 2014. A Commented version (CMV) of the official IEC 62196-1 standard is available to allow for the easy identification of changes made compared to the previous edition. It also includes comments from the experts who developed the standard to explain the reasoning for the changes.