Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen have jointly developed a standard connection system to quickly recharge electric vehicles, named Combined Charging System. These carmakers agreed on adopting the HomePlug Green PHY communication protocol, which is specifically designed for the requirements of the smart grid market and will therefore be able to choose the cheapest time to buy energy automatically. Besides, the new system will work with the electric networks of all countries, being them 120V or 220V or 24oV and so on.

All companies involved are going to launch more and more electric vehicles in the forthcoming years: BMW is about to unveil the first output of its i-series, Audi has the ongoing E-Tron project, GM’s brands (Opel, Vauxhall, Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick) all have electric cars waiting in the wings and so have Ford, Volkswagen and Mercedes (and Smart). The most surprising presence in this list of brands is definitely Porsche: it looks like after years and years of anticipations, we will really have to get used to the idea of a plug-in Porsche. However, it might not be a pure electric car, it might be an hybrid using some extra electric power, just like the announced 918 Spyder.

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