Penske Truck Leasing has joined the Charging Interface Initiative, a group focused on promoting the Combined Charging System as a global standard for charging electric vehicles.

Penske will focus its attention on promoting charging standards for commercial vehicles by participating in the group’s High Power Charging for Commercial Vehicles Task Force.

“As a leading services provider to commercial fleets, we feel standardization around electric vehicle charging and charging stations will help accelerate the use of electric vehicles within the transportation industry,” said Brian Hard, president and CEO of Penske Truck Leasing. “The interoperability of vehicle charging stations over the road is essential for commercial fleet uptime, efficiency, maintenance, and general ease of use for the industry.”

Standardizing electric vehicle charging standards could reduce complexity of the technology for fleets and drivers as well as for maintenance providers and vehicle recharging companies.

“Our goal is to extend CCS capabilities to meet the requirements for commercial EV charging,” said Oleg Logvinov, the spokesperson for CharIN in North America and President and CEO of IoTecha. “The input from end users is the key to our success. Penske is the first fleet operator to join our team and this brings this important work one step closer to successful completion.”