Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China released the “Key Points for Automobile Standardization in 2025”, which, for the first time, includes megawatt charging systems for commercial vehicles, artificial intelligence, solid-state batteries, and other cutting-edge technologies as key areas of focus. This reflects China’s strategic and forward-looking approach toward the electrification, intelligence, and green, low-carbon development of commercial vehicles.
This time, the MIIT requires the launch of pre-research on commercial vehicle megawatt DC charging system standards, clarifying the technical requirements of charging interfaces, flow guidance, cooling, communication, compatibility and other technical requirements for rated power of 1 MW and above, promoting the formation of national recommended standards, and supporting high-speed charging needs of heavy trucks, buses, special vehicles, etc.
Why should we research the promotion of megawatt charging system (MCS) charging standards for commercial vehicles? What technical trends and regulatory requirements does this reveal?
1. Development trend of megawatt charging standards for commercial vehicles in Europe and the United States
At present, the US SAE has launched the J3271 technical report, and the European IEC organization has started the compilation of IEC 63379 and IEC 61851-23-3. It is expected that a global unified MCS standard will be formed in 2025. The standard content will cover elements such as electrical performance (such as voltage and current levels), safety protection, and communication protocols (Ethernet + ISO 15118-20).
As an international organization, the megawatt charging systems design launched by the CharIN Alliance supports a maximum DC power of 1250V and 3000A (3.75MW).
2. The current status of China’s commercial vehicle megawatt charging standards
In 2023, China released the GB/T series of standards for high-power charging (such as GB/T20234.4-2023 “DC Charging Connection Device Part 4: High-Power Charging Interface”), using a new “supercharger” interface compatible with CHAdeMO, supporting a maximum charging capacity of 1.2MW.
At present, there is no unified megawatt standard system in the field of commercial vehicles in China, and the interoperability between different standards is poor. In the future, China can learn from the experience of Europe and the United States, accelerate the formation of a unified high-voltage charging specification for commercial vehicles, introduce mature communication protocols (such as the “plug and charge” function of ISO 15118-20), and improve safety requirements such as insulation and thermal management in combination with domestic technical characteristics to achieve compatibility and interoperability with global MCS standards.
3. New direction of standards and regulatory trends
The standard will define megawatt charging system interfaces (such as liquid-cooled plugs), communication protocols (CAN FD or Ethernet), and grid collaborative management (dynamic load adjustment). Supervision may require two-way communication between charging facilities and vehicles to achieve real-time power matching and fault isolation.
- In terms of electrical performance, future standards are expected to refer to the CharIN MCS specification, with a maximum DC voltage of 1250V and a current of 3000A (i.e., 3.75MW). The current Chinese interface specification is 1500V/600A (about 0.9MW). In the future, the voltage and current levels can be improved on this basis to meet the charging needs of large-capacity batteries, while considering the compatibility of medium and low voltages and the evolution of vehicle technology.
- In terms of safety requirements, it will refer to the requirements of international safety standards such as IEC and UL, such as meeting the UL2251 touch safety regulations, and strengthening the mechanical strength, environmental resistance and thermal runaway detection of plugs and sockets to ensure reliability and safety in harsh environments and high loads.
- In terms of communication protocols, it is expected to continue to use the GB/T 27930 protocol system, and connect with international protocols such as ISO 15118-20 to achieve “plug and charge” identity authentication and charging settlement functions; it may also support bidirectional charging and discharging (V2G) and vehicle networking collaboration to enhance the intelligence and energy management capabilities of the charging network.
4. Industry impact and corporate response strategies
EV Charger companies need to develop liquid cooling systems and high-voltage insulation materials, and car companies need to upgrade battery thermal management systems. The pain point is the lack of grid transformation and cost-sharing mechanisms, and the long investment payback period of supercharging stations.
Correspondingly, car companies need to develop battery systems that support 1 MW charging and strengthen BMS fast charging and discharging safety strategies.
Charging operators have increased investment in charging stations, power distribution, grid-side dispatching and energy storage systems to optimize power interfaces and costs. The pain point is that high-power charging leads to large peak impacts on the grid side, high equipment costs, and increased product life and maintenance difficulties.
It is recommended that EV charger companies and vehicle manufacturers accelerate product upgrades and develop modular charging equipment that supports higher voltage and current and multi-standard interfaces; reserve high-voltage and high-current key technologies in advance, such as silicon-carbon compound (SiC) power modules, high-voltage connectors and active cooling systems; actively participate in domestic and foreign standardization organizations and industry alliances (such as CharIN, ISO/IEC, etc.), promote standard unification and follow up on the latest progress; adopt software upgradeable and hardware scalable design ideas to maintain product compatibility and flexibility with future standard evolution.
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