Cooperation on eMobility standardization was the focus of discussion during a Transatlantic Roundtable organised by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which took place in Brussels on 28 and 29 November.

This event brought together technical experts from industry, government and other stakeholders from both sides of the Atlantic to compare and discuss standardization priorities for electric vehicles (EVs), as outlined in the Report of the CEN-CENELEC Focus Group on European Electro-Mobility (October 2011) and the Standardization Roadmap for Electric Vehicles – Version 1.0 (April 2012) developed by the ANSI Electric Vehicles Standards Panel (EVSP).  Information was shared on cooperative efforts already underway among organisations involved in electric vehicle standardization such as the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), SAE International, and Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. 

Participants acknowledged that a number of organisations produce globally relevant standards following open, transparent, and consensus-based processes.  While one global standard is always the preferred objective, intellectual property, copyright, and commercial issues sometimes result in more than one standards organisation working on the same or similar issues.  Regulatory and/or infrastructure differences between regions can also result in variations.

In order to prevent the proliferation of conflicting standards, the meeting participants agreed to continue their cooperation on promoting and enabling the harmonisation and alignment of standards in this area.  Participants also recognised that governments, including the European Commission and other inter-governmental bodies, must play their part by working towards the increased harmonisation of relevant laws and regulations. 

The decision to organise the Transatlantic eMobility Standardization Roundtable was prompted by the eMobility work plan put forward by the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) in November 2011, and comments made by the EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and the U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs Michael Froman at an ANSI-ESO conference on transatlantic partnerships to promote economic growth, held in October 2011.

The full version of this press release can be found on the CEN-CENELEC website:

http://www.cencenelec.eu/News/Press_Releases/Pages/PR-2012-18.aspx

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