cross-posted from: https://jlai.lu/post/3226934
The wait is finally over. From 2024, USB-C will be the common standard for electronic devices in the EU – and we have already seen the impact !
It means
- 🔌The same charger for all phones, tablets and cameras
- ⚡ Harmonised fast-charging technology
- 🔄Reduced e-waste
One charger to rule them all.
Now, a reality.
Learn more about the #EUCommonCharger here: https://europa.eu/!hwjj3G
Unbundling the sale of a charger from the sale of the electronic device .
The ‘common charging’ requirements will apply to all handheld mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, headsets, portable speakers, handheld videogame consoles, e-readers, earbuds, keyboards, mice, and portable navigation systems as of 2024. These requirements will also apply to laptops as of 2026. Such transition periods will give industry sufficient time to adapt before the entry into application.
Consumers will be able to purchase a new electronic device without a new charger. This will limit the number of chargers on the market or left unused. Reducing production and disposal of new chargers is estimated to reduce the amount of electronic waste by 980 tonnes yearly
Producers will need to provide relevant visual and written information about charging characteristics, including information on the power the device requires and whether it supports fast charging. This will help consumers understand if their existing chargers meet their new device’s requirements and/or help them select a compatible charger. Combined with the other measures, this will help consumers to limit the number of new chargers purchased and save at least €250 million a year on unnecessary charger purchases.
L’attente est finalement terminée. À partir de 2024, l’USB-C deviendra la norme commune pour les appareils électroniques dans l’UE – et nous avons déjà vu son impact !
Cela signifie
- 🔌Le même chargeur pour tous les téléphones, tablettes et appareils photo
- ⚡ Technologie de charge rapide harmonisée
- 🔄Réduction des déchets électroniques
Un chargeur pour les gouverner tous. Maintenant, une réalité. Pour en savoir plus sur le #EUCommonCharger, cliquez ici : https://europa.eu/!hwjj3G
Les exigences de « charge commune » s’appliqueront à tous les téléphones mobiles portables, tablettes, appareils photo numériques, écouteurs, casques, haut-parleurs portables, consoles de jeux vidéo portables, liseuses électroniques, écouteurs, claviers, souris et systèmes de navigation portables à partir de 2024. Ces exigences s’appliquera également aux ordinateurs portables à partir de 2026. De telles périodes de transition donneront à l’industrie suffisamment de temps pour s’adapter avant l’entrée en application.
Les consommateurs pourront acheter un nouvel appareil électronique sans nouveau chargeur. Cela limitera le nombre de chargeurs sur le marché ou inutilisés. On estime que la réduction de la production et de l’élimination des nouveaux chargeurs permettrait de réduire la quantité de déchets électroniques de 980 tonnes par an.
Les producteurs devront fournir des informations visuelles et écrites pertinentes sur les caractéristiques de charge, y compris des informations sur la puissance requise par l’appareil et s’il prend en charge une charge rapide. Cela aidera les consommateurs à comprendre si leurs chargeurs existants répondent aux exigences de leur nouvel appareil et/ou les aidera à sélectionner un chargeur compatible. Combinée aux autres mesures, cette mesure aidera les consommateurs à limiter le nombre de nouveaux chargeurs achetés et à économiser au moins 250 millions d’euros par an sur les achats inutiles de chargeurs
What happens when usb-c can’t physically supply enough power for future batteries?
Dunno, probably a new standard. Or a standarised battery ? I’m mot an expert in this area.
I think thats a good opportunity to slow technology and focus on our earth ressource management and waste. We can wait 20 years before buying new machine and set up new standard ? Then every producers test and create new prototype in their lab along technological foundation to help with their research ?
But this law is going to make changing when a better standard should take over difficult. Imagine if this was passed 5 years ago when the terrible one sided USB was common. The only group that will have the power in the future to update it is the USB group, and that is a group of manufacturers that have a driving goal of absolute cheapness at heart, not innovation. This is a terrible law.
That’s why it wasn’t passed “5 years ago”. Because it sucked too much.
USB-C doesn’t, and that’s why you could make the rule. Fuck your potential innovation on the cost of 1.000 tons e-waste a year.
It should be difficult. You need to convince ten billion people to buy new chargers if you’re going to switch to a new charging standard and often several chargers per person (five at home? three at work? two in your car?).
Manufacturing and distributing 50 billion or so chargers only makes sense if your new standard is a lot better than USB-C. And if it is, then it won’t be difficult to convince people to move to it.
The only group that will have the power in the future to update it is the USB group
No, it isn’t. The law includes language that allows the Commission to upgrade the standard that applies, not the USB-IF. If the USB-IF does something stupid the Commission can veto it for the whole EU market, which likely means that the USB-IF won’t be stupid. The standard to be used in the EU will never fall behind the currently adopted one (at least when the Commission is competent and it generally is, in these matters. They’re quite good at technocracy).
Overall EU doesn’t really care what the standard is, only that there is a standard and that it’s sensible, and thus let manufacturers figure out the details on their own, but that doesn’t mean that the EU is handing the USB-IF legislative powers: The commission will only rubber-stamp what comes out of the USB-IF if they indeed have no objections.
It can already do 240 watts which is really excessive for a mobile computer. Technology trends toward lower power requirements, not higher.
I don’t think there are any 240 watt chargers on the market though despite it theoretically being supported. Last I read, there were some doubts around if it was truly feasible. Laptops that require more than 90 or so watts still come with proprietary chargers because they can’t charge at full rate over USB-C.
My Dell laptop is 240 watts and the only way to charge it at full rate over USB is to buy a proprietary $250 charger from Dell that provides two USB cords that must be plugged in together to achieve a combined 240 watts. The 90 watt charger from my old laptop won’t keep it running for more than an hour.
Anyway, hopefully we see 240 watt USB-C in the future but at the moment it seems to be vaporware. Maybe this ruling will push it forward.
There’s 240w usb-c on every common marketplace for US market, is that not the case for eu?
Not excessive at all for a laptop, a gaming laptop may burn 400W at full tilt. Max power consumption really is more of a matter of how much heat dissipation the form factor allows in those instances: Just because you find a way to do more computation with less watts doesn’t mean that people won’t use it to do more computation at the same watts.
Unpopular opinion: I prefer micro-usb.
I don’t agree. First of all, you always had to be careful to plug it in the right way up and over time the little hooks on the connector always wore out much faster than with usb-c so the cable would come loose and you’d wind up with a phone that wasn’t charged in the morning.
They’re smaller so there is less dirt and stuff that gets in. I also think that I’ve been unlucky with my usb-c devices, since the contact seems to break often.
It’s a lot harder to find good cables. The connector wears out fairly quickly. C can be better, but cheapness makes it worse in many cases.
That sounds like buying cheap getting cheap. Good USB c cables from ugreen and similar aren’t that expensive in my experience.
I’m really curious to see the knock on effects of this legislation down the road. There’s bound to be issues at some point where the USBC law stifles something somewhere, and there’s bound to be someone that finds a way around it somehow.
I like the uniformity to reduce ewaste in particular, but wish rules like this could be more nimble.
The EU law defers to USB IF and allows them to update the standard, so if there’s newer better ports for mobile devices released then it can basically be rubberstamped, plus protocol updates for USB C devices are not impeded at all.
The only plausible near-term issue would be if somebody else created a more compact and robust port with equivalent capabilities (and that will likely take some time) which they want to put as the only port in some devices covered by the regulation.
I’m mostly curious about the laptops part because many laptops with discrete GPUs and high power components often come with 125 watt or more charging bricks, which is pushing the limits of USB Power Delivery without more specific cables and chargers. If someone launches a laptop (well more like a portable workstation) that needs 200-300 watts how’re they going to power that over USB C, and what kinds of malicious compliance are we going to see for these edgecases?
I’m hoping the legislation doesn’t forbid dual charging ports, where the device has usb charging which works as well as it can, and then a proper charging port. My current laptop has that configuration.
Because there’s also the issue of durability. A barrel power connector can freely rotate which can absorb a lot of stress when the laptop is moved around. I think a usb-c cable that’s used the same way would fail a lot sooner, especially with all the delicate wiring it has in comparison.
Some Chinese manufacturers are already working on undermining this by releasing 12V non-PD devices that use the plug. Those devices are not compatible with regular chargers and if you use their power supply for something else that device will be destroyed (because it’s designed for 5V not 12).
The sale of those things will not be legal in the EU so no need to worry.
One of those devices is currently shipping to me via AliExpress… passed import without any issues.
Well, it’s not 2024 just yet. And besides that, I don’t think it’s possible to completely control everything that gets imported, but I reckon it’s going to be a rather rare occurrence in the future.
reduced e-waste
Well I wish the products would be bloody cheaper as well when there’s no charger in the package, but no…
