Berlin - Electric car makers and power companies are to unveil this week a standard Europe-wide power plug to recharge the batteries of electric vehicles, the German newspaper Die Welt reported Sunday. The agreement avoids the plug-and-socket problems familiar to travellers who take small appliances such as hair-dryers abroad.
It will be announced at the five-day Hanover Fair, a big annual expo of industrial products which opens for business on Monday in Germany. Die Welt said the standard had been agreed by 20 big companies.
The connectors were designed for a 400-volt power supply with up to 63 amperes of current.
The future of electric cars as a replacement for petroleum-powered vehicles depends on motorists being able to recharge batteries anywhere with a minimum of fuss, said Die Welt, quoting Carolin Reichert, an executive at German power group RWE.
