With no current industry standard for 48V DC charging solutions – the power required to charge electric compact equipment – Volvo Construction Equipment is releasing its brand-agnostic protocol for electric charging solutions.
By publishing a standardized charging protocol, the company aims to accelerate electrification and make it easier for customers with multi-branded fleets.
Other OEMs and suppliers can use the Volvo CE protocol to develop their own charging solutions for compact machines, as well as its plug specifications for 48-volt off-board DC chargers – often referred to as fast charging.
There is already an industry standard protocol for 600-volt power used for heavier equipment that the automotive industry has developed.
Fredrik Tjernström, electromobility solutions sales at Volvo CE, says, “We want to contribute to a standardized, reliable and efficient electric ecosystem that makes it easy for our customers to go electric! Today, lacking a standard brand-agnostic charging interface for compact machines, our customers will need different chargers for different machine brands. By making our charging interface public, we hope that we will see more and more charging solution providers and other machine OEMs using one and the same charging protocol – moving us a step closer to an industry standard for the benefit of customers everywhere.”
