(Sent to commonchargercfe@businessandtrade.gov.uk 15th October 2024)

Hi,
  I'd like to respond to your call for evidence on the 'common charger
for electrical devices'.

Firstly I think that in general the idea is good; but it does need
some detail adding.

Q1 Common charger issues
  a) Some care might be needed in allowing support for specialist
  equipment that might need more power, or require very frequent
  reconnection, or operate in harsh conditions.

  b) Encouraging standardisations organisations to come up with
  something similar for harsh conditions etc might be good.

  c) I doubt the UK failing to make the legislation would have a big
  impact, since many will have to do it for the EU anyway.

Q2 Of USB-C

  d) I think the term 'USB-C' is probably the wrong technical thing
  to require; that's indeed the correct connector, but the way that
  connector is used is part of a more detailed standard.  For all
  but the lowest power devices the 'USB Power delivery' (aka USB-PD)
  is the thing that actually says how to push or pull power over
  that connector.  That needs input from people familiar with the
  standard to ensure that the correct thing is required.

  e) USB Power delivery can be quite complicated; it supports
  quite a range of power levels that can involve chosing an
  appropriate charger and cable;  still I think it's a good choice
  since you can always use a higher power charger to handle
  your smaller devices as well.
Q3 'fast charging'

  f) I think 'fast charging' just requires the use of USB-PD
  at the appropriate power levels and making sure devices comply
  with and are tested.

  g) USB power delivery does define a 'USB Fast charger' -
  I'm not sure it fully meets the idea of what users think
  of as fast charging.

Q4 Being able to buy without a charger

  g) I think generally this is good, however, if you're buying
  a device that uses the highest level of power required, it's
  less likely you'll have a suitable spare USB-C charger
  and suitable cable spare at home; thus I can see it would make
  sense to bundle at the higher end.

Q5 Visual labelling

  h) The USB standard already has labelling requirements that
  devices should use

  i) However, the different USB-C logos are confusing and complicated.
  At one side it feels like we need something clear, at the other
  it feels wrong to diverge from the existing standard.

  j) Specifying which version of USB-PD the device requires, and
  which charger and cable is needed to make that all work
  does need that labelling; I have no idea how to make that clear
  to the user.

Yours faithfully,

Dr. David Alan Gilbert
(PhD computer science, no specific experience of USB-C standardisation)