broadgage:

It would have been better in my view for the charging circuit to be built into the vehicle, and only requiring the connection of a mains input. A simple mechanical keyway on the connection could "tell" the charger what supply was available. A choice of four supplies would meet almost all requirements.

This is essentially what we have for AC charging, only with a simple analogue control signal rather than a keyway, and a couple more options, add 1x16A and 3x16A* to your list, and replace 1x13A with 1x10A as that's what all the granny cables do. This system is fine and works, with a simple pilot signal that encodes 6-80 A available, and a couple of other checks like PE continuity and the ability to check the CCC of a user-supplied cable with a built in ID resistor.


For what it's worth there's no longer a mainstream car on the market that supports 3x63A AC charging, newer Renault Zoes have dropped it as an option in favour of DC. 3x32A is still common on many vehicles. I suspect the main issue is that American charging stations and cars with type 1 connectors don't support 3 phase at all so the market is more limited. I am inclined to agree with you that wider support for high power AC charging is desirable, simply because the charging stations are simple, low-complexity connectors not huge banks of power electronics. That makes them cheap to install which is clearly important for rollout.


DC charging is messier as the power conversion is handled off the vehicle and there's a completely different protocol to communicate between charger and car. It also means a given charging site needs a separate bank of power electronics per car if it is to charge more than one at once because they will each need a different voltage and current setting.


From a user perspective by far the biggest thing that needs fixing is payment, which has generally been a mess of supplier-specific accounts with phone apps or RFID cards. Contactless payment is slowly improving this. Failure to charge is commonly related to payment issues, with the charger or a smartphone failing to connect properly to some remote server.

broadgage:

It would have been better in my view for the charging circuit to be built into the vehicle, and only requiring the connection of a mains input. A simple mechanical keyway on the connection could "tell" the charger what supply was available. A choice of four supplies would meet almost all requirements.

This is essentially what we have for AC charging, only with a simple analogue control signal rather than a keyway, and a couple more options, add 1x16A and 3x16A* to your list, and replace 1x13A with 1x10A as that's what all the granny cables do. This system is fine and works, with a simple pilot signal that encodes 6-80 A available, and a couple of other checks like PE continuity and the ability to check the CCC of a user-supplied cable with a built in ID resistor.


For what it's worth there's no longer a mainstream car on the market that supports 3x63A AC charging, newer Renault Zoes have dropped it as an option in favour of DC. 3x32A is still common on many vehicles. I suspect the main issue is that American charging stations and cars with type 1 connectors don't support 3 phase at all so the market is more limited. I am inclined to agree with you that wider support for high power AC charging is desirable, simply because the charging stations are simple, low-complexity connectors not huge banks of power electronics. That makes them cheap to install which is clearly important for rollout.


DC charging is messier as the power conversion is handled off the vehicle and there's a completely different protocol to communicate between charger and car. It also means a given charging site needs a separate bank of power electronics per car if it is to charge more than one at once because they will each need a different voltage and current setting.


From a user perspective by far the biggest thing that needs fixing is payment, which has generally been a mess of supplier-specific accounts with phone apps or RFID cards. Contactless payment is slowly improving this. Failure to charge is commonly related to payment issues, with the charger or a smartphone failing to connect properly to some remote server.