• CHAdeMO-GB/T harmonisation progress was reported to the members of both organisations as well as to a larger international charging expert community
• Automakers as well as key connector and charger manufacturers from Asia, Europe and Oceania have participated
• It was announced that ChaoJi will be proposed as an international standard at the IEC/ISO and the development team aims to issue the standard early next year in Japan and in 2021 in China, ahead of the IEC/ISO publication

China Electricity Council (CEC) and CHAdeMO Association, currently co-developing the next-generation ultra-high-power charging standard with the working name of “ChaoJi,” have co-hosted the 1^st International ChaoJi Technical Workshop in Tokyo on the 19^th of July. Since the signing of the MoU to harmonise GB/T and CHAdeMO protocols for the next-generation ultra-high-power charging standard almost a year ago, the core development team comprising of both organisations’ members have met on a monthly basis  to advance this project. This week’s Technical Workshop was organised to share the progress of the team’s work to the members of both associations as well as to a larger community of international charging experts.

Over 60 people from 12 countries, including 10 OEMs and 9 connector manufacturers, from Asia, Europe and Oceania joined the workshop. Most participants were members of the two host organisations, but there were some charging experts who joined through the Japan-German as well as Sino-German bi-lateral collaboration platforms on next-generation charging systems.

In the one-day workshop, the high-level overview of this new standard was presented by the core development team, with further information on the new coupler, cable assembly and adapters to ensure backward compatibility. Safety and communication occupied important parts of the discussion as well.

As the CEC-CHAdeMO harmonisation work was started in hope of harmonisation in the international standardisation arena, it was also revealed in the workshop that the study to make ChaoJi backward compatible with CCS is also under consideration.

As the key outcome of this meeting, three working groups were formed to progress on the coupler & cable assembly, safety, and communication respectively to kick start work immediately, involving the international experts. The international ChaoJi workshop participants have also agreed to continue work and join forces with the CEC-CHAdeMO core members.

In addition, the development schedule was reported in the workshop. The development team from the Chinese side has announced that ChaoJi will be proposed to the IEC/ISO committees to be added to the DC fast charging systems. In preparation for the IEC standardisation work, the team aims to publish ChaoJi first in Japan early next year, followed by China the year after.

The prototypes of the ChaoJi couplers, chargers and EVs have already been made in China and various tests are taking place. Further prototyping is expected for testing in Japan early next year in parallel with the protocol publication work.

Prior to the workshop, CHAdeMO technology demonstration event was held, including high-power charging, dynamic charging as well as V2X. Here is a photo from the event, with the participation of various CHAdeMO-compatible vehicles.