Magne Charge (also known as Magne-Charge, MagneCharge and J1773) is a largely obsolete inductive charging system used to charge battery electric vehicles (BEVs).[1][2]
It was produced by General Motors subsidiary Delco Electronics based on SAE standard J1773 for vehicles such as the EV1, the Chevy S10 EV, Nissan Altra, and the 1st gen Toyota RAV4 EV.[3] Magne Charge is destined for obsolescence as no vehicles using it have been produced since around 2003, and all EV1s and almost all S10 EVs were lease-only and recalled and destroyed by General Motors. Later BEVs such as the 2012 Gen 2 RAV4 EV, Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt use the conductive SAE J1772 charging standard instead of the inductive Magne Charge.
The Level 2 charger with 6.6 kW was the most common version. A Level 3 higher power 50 kW fast charge version was demonstrated.[4] This charger was unique in that its charge port used an inductive charge paddle, of which there were two sizes, an original large (5½" wide) and later small (4¼" wide) paddle.[5] These were often referred on electric vehicle charging station maps as SPI and LPI stations for Small Paddle Inductive and Large Paddle Inductive stations. The system was also designed to be safe even when used in the rain and was demonstrated in operation fully submerged in water.[6]
Magne Charge support was withdrawn by General Motors in 2002,[7] after the California Air Resources Board settled on a conductive charging interface for electric vehicles in California in June 2001.[8][9] In 2011 the California Energy Commission created the Reconnect CA Program, a grant program to upgrade and expand existing publicly available EV charging infrastructure to the SAE J1772 charging standard.
George Bellino, GMATV Magne Charge Program Assistant Manager, 50 KW Inductive Fast Charge Fleet Demo program status
Inductive - old large & new small
GM Pulls the Plug on Inductive Charging: Letter from General Motors Advanced Technology Vehicles (Letter dated 2002-03-15)
the ARB approved the staff proposal to select the conductive charging system used by Ford, Honda and several other manufacturers
Standardization of Charging Systems