The GB/T charging standard is a set of GB/T standards, primarily in the GB/T 20234 family, for electric vehicle AC and DC fast charging used in China. The standards were revised and updated most recently in 2015 by the Standardization Administration of China. The term is an abbreviation of 国标推荐 (), translated as "recommended/voluntary national standard".
Overview
The GB/T charging standards are comparable to similar standards from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and the International Standards Organization (ISO) which provide general, physical, and signaling requirements for electric vehicle charging interfaces.
GB/T 18487 provides general requirements for conductive charging systems, corresponding to IEC 61851. GB/T 20234 provides physical requirements for connectors and interfaces, corresponding to IEC 62196 and SAE J1772. GB/T 27930 provides communication requirements, corresponding to ISO 15118 and SAE J1772.
List of standards
The five referenced GB/T standards were revised and released on December 28, 2015: GB/T 18487.1-2015 Conducting Charging Systems for Electric Vehicles – Part 1: General Requirements GB/T 20234.1-2015 Connectors for Conducting Charging for Electric Vehicles – Part 1: General Requirements GB/T 20234.2-2015 Connectors for Conducting Charging for Electric Vehicles – Part 2: Alternating Current Charging Interfaces GB/T 20234.3-2015 Connectors for Conducting Charging for Electric Vehicles – Part 3: Direct Current Charging Interfaces GB/T 27930-2015 Communication Protocol between Off-board Conductive Charger and Battery Management System of Electric Vehicle
Charging interface
Common terminology: Socket outlet is the physical interface on the charging station Plug is the interface on the connecting cable that mates with the socket outlet Connector is the interface on the opposite end of the connecting cable that mates with the vehicle inlet Vehicle inlet is the physical interface on the electric vehicle
In some cases, the connecting cable is permanently mounted to the charging station and the socket outlet and plug are not used.
Charging modes
GB/T 20234.1 defines three different charging modes:
AC charging
The AC standard (GB/T 20234.2) uses male and female connectors physically compatible with the European Type 2 connector, but with different configurations and signaling. While the European implementation of Type 2 (IEC 62196-2 Type 2) uses a female connector and male vehicle inlet, GB/T 20234.2 specifies a male connector and female vehicle inlet. Both IEC 62196-2 Type 2 and GB/T 20234.2 specify a female socket outlet and male plug. In addition, GB/T 20234.2 uses CC/CP (charging confirmation and control pilot) signals, instead of PP/CP (proximity pilot and control pilot) signaling.
For the male plug and connector ends, the shape is a flattened circle with a nominal outer diameter of ; the flattened section reduces this to , measured top to bottom.
It allows mode 2 (250 V) or mode 3 (440 V) single-phase AC charging at up to 8 or 27.7 kW, respectively. In Mode 2, power is supplied with a current of 10/16/32A and voltage of 250V. In Mode 3, power is supplied with a current of 16/32/63A and voltage of 440V. Although the seven-pin interface is capable of passing three-phase AC power, the current implementation is limited to single-phase power.
In general, charging speeds are also limited by the vehicle's on board charger, which is usually less than 10 kW. The on-board charger converts the AC input power to DC.
DC fast charging
The DC fast charging standard (GB/T 20234.3) uses a different, larger connector and allows for fast charging at up to 250 kW, with current of 80/125/200/250A, and voltage of 750-1000V. However, 50 kW or other lower rated power chargers are more commonly seen, typically retaining the minimum GB/T voltage of 750V but with different current ratings. Some chargers may also follow the physical plug specified by GB/T 20234.3 but not the GB/T standard power limits by using a lower voltage than 750V, such as 500V.
The male vehicle connector has a flattened circular shape similar to that of the Type 2 connector used for single-phase AC charging. The DC charging connector specified in GB/T 20234.3 has a nominal outer diameter of ; the flattened top reduces the top-to-bottom height to . There are four pins for signaling: two to provide charging confirmation (CC1 / CC2) and two for communication via CAN bus (S+ / S-). In addition, the GB/T 20234.3 connector provides up to 600 W of auxiliary DC power at 30V/20A (A+ / A-).