J1772 Connectors

The main stimulus for the development of SAE J1772 came from the California Air Resources Board. Formerly electric vehicles like the General Motors EV1 had used inductive charger couplers. These were ruled out in favor of conductive coupling to supply electricity for recharging with the California Air Resources Board settling upon the SAE J1772-2001 standard as the charging interface for electric vehicles in California in June 2001. Avcon manufactured a rectangular connector compliant with that SAE J1772 REVNOV 2001 specification that was capable of delivering up to 6.6kW of electrical power. (Photos and description of this old-revision rectangular "AVCon connector" and "AVCon inlet".

 The CARB regulation of 2001 mandated the usage of SAE J1772-2001 beginning with the 2006 model year. Later requirements asked for higher currents to be used than the Avcon connector could provide. This process led to the proposal of a new round connector design by Yazaki which allows for an increased power delivery of up to 19.2kW delivered via single phase 120–240 V AC at up to 80 amperes. In 2008 the CARB published a draft amendment to section 1962.2 Title 13 that mandated the usage of the oncoming SAE J1772 standard beginning with the 2010 model year.

Type 1 "J1772" (Japan/US) slow AC connector

The Yazaki plug that was built to the new SAE J1772 plug standard successfully completed certification at UL. The standard specification was subsequently voted upon by the SAE committee in July 2009. On January 14, 2010 the SAE J1772 REV 2009 was adopted by the SAE Motor Vehicle Council. The companies participating in or supporting the revised -2009 standard include Smart, Chrysler, GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Tesla.

The SAE J1772-2009 connector specification has been added to the international IEC 62196-2 standard ("Part 2: Dimensional compatibility and interchangeability requirements for a.c. pin and contact-tube accessories") with voting on the final specification to close in May 2011. The SAE J1772 connector is considered a "Type 1" implementation providing a single phase coupler.