ChaoJi Charging Connector CHAdeMO ChaoJi Gun 500A 600A DC Fast Charger Connector

New CHAdeMO and CEC charging connection revealed

ChaoJi brings an all-new design with a new plug, new inlet, liquid cooling technology and removal of the locking mechanism from the connector to the vehicle side for much lower weight and smaller size.

It’s currently rated at more than 500 kW (at up to 600 A), but as we know from previous reports, the target is for a 900 kW (600 A, 1500 V).

“This latest version of CHAdeMO protocol enables DC charging with the power over 500kW (maximum current 600A), while ensuring the connector to be light and compact with a smaller diameter cable, thanks to the liquid-cooling technology as well as to the removal of locking mechanism from the connector to the vehicle side.”

As we understand, ChaoJi is expected to become an ultimate DC fast charging standard in China and Japan, while the older versions of cars/chargers will be used with adaptors.

The next step will be to release the testing requirements for CHAdeMO 3.0 specification “within a year” and launch the ChaoJi on the market, starting with commercial vehicles “as early as 2021″ and then moving to passenger vehicles.

Operating under CHAdeMO communication protocol, CHAdeMO 3.0 is the first publication of the next-generation ultra-high-power charging standard, being co-developed by China Electricity Council (CEC) and CHAdeMO Association with the working name “ChaoJi.” The Chinese version, operating under the GB/T communication protocol, is also planned to be released next year.

This latest version of CHAdeMO protocol enables DC charging with the power over 500kW (maximum current 600A), while ensuring the connector to be light and compact with a smaller diameter cable, thanks to the liquid-cooling technology as well as to the removal of locking mechanism from the connector to the vehicle side. Backward compatibility of the CHAdeMO 3.0-compliant vehicles with the existing DC fast charging standards (CHAdeMO, GB/T, and possibly CCS) is ensured; in other words, today’s CHAdeMO chargers can feed power to both the current EVs as well as the future EVs via an adapter or with a multi-standard charger.

Started as a bi-lateral project, ChaoJi has developed into an international collaboration forum, mobilising expertise and market experience of key players from Europe, Asia, North America, and Oceania. India is expected to join the team sometime soon, and governments and companies form South Korea and South-eastern Asian countries have also expressed their strong interests.

The CHAdeMO group has agreed to cooperate with the Chinese with several conditions, among which the most important being that the new plug would ensure backward compatibility with the existing CHAdeMO EVs and chargers. The biggest risk for CHAdeMO as the first mover and the most-widely used protocol in the market was losing trust of the e-mobility stakeholders. Protecting the interest of the CHAdeMO EV users, infrastructure owners, as well as the vehicle and charger manufacturers, who had invested in CHAdeMO, was of utmost importance. This ‘waste not’ philosophy aligned well with the priority of the Chinese team, who absolutely wanted to ensure backward compatibility with GB/T 2015.

The testing requirements for CHAdeMO 3.0 specification are expected to be issued within a year. The first ChaoJi EVs will be likely commercial vehicles and expected to be launched in the market as early as 2021, followed by other types of vehicles including passenger EVs.