The three-point, 400-volt plug, which will allow electric cars to be recharged anywhere in a matter of minutes, is set to be unveiled Monday at the world's biggest industrial technology fair in Hanover, northern Germany.

"A car must be able to be recharged in Italy in exactly the same way as in Denmark, Germany or France," an RWE spokeswoman, Caroline Reichert, was quoted as saying in an edition of Die Welt to appear Monday.

She gave no timeframe for the introduction of the plug, saying that talks between the companies were ongoing.

The agreement on a common standard for the plug comprises several major automakers, including Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Fiat, Toyota and Mitsubishi.

Energy firms signed up to the accord include Eon, Vattenfall, EDF, Npower, Endesa and Enel.

Berlin hopes that one million electric cars will be on the road by 2020. RWE and Daimler launched a pilot project in Berlin in September.

The development of a common plug is a major step towards the mass production of electric cars, Reichert told Die Welt.

earlier related report
Schwarzenegger blames auto woes on empty US policy
The once mighty US car industry has been blighted by the lack of a coherent US energy policy to cut dependence on foreign oil, California Governor Arnold Schwarznegger charged Monday.

"The government should provide money to help the automakers in research and development, but it can also no longer keep changing their policies," said Schwarzenegger at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) conference here.

"We need a vision for energy, a vision for our cars, a vision for greenhouse gases and a vision for tailpipe emissions. In all this time we have not had those visions."

The lack of a coherent energy policy dating back to the late 1980s has hurt carmakers, he said, alleging that prevailing policies had been basically tied to the low price of oil in the United States, which stiffled innovation.

"Detroit has been slow to change. But government policy has also hurt. Both share the blame," he said.

"I think the government created the problem because we didn't have an energy policy," Schwarzenegger said.

The governor, who has long been critical of the Detroit-based Big Three -- Chrysler, General Motors and Ford -- also offered to do a commercial for them for free, once they are on the road to recovery.

"Detroit is going to be back and Detroit is a leading force in the car industry and worldwide," he vowed as he opened the SAE's annual convention in the hub of the US car industry.

"Right now, they are going through some painful times. For anyone who says, 'Leave them here, don't help them' is a huge amount of nonsense talk because of the fact of the matter is we all need to help Detroit," he said.

The new US administration has set deadlines for Chrysler and General Motors to restructure their companies to be more competitive in return for billions more dollars in government loans, or risk collapse.

Schwarzenegger said he believed Detroit's carmakers could overcome their current difficulties, and noted the companies were now pushing ahead with developing new alternative technologies including battery-electric vehicles, hydrogen-fueled cars and hybrids.

The market, not the government, should decide which technology is best, he concluded, adding "they're really not that far behind."

The California governor insisted the government has the responsibility to set policies to encourage efficiency and new technology.

The only reason his state, California, has developed an independent standard was because the federal government had failed to develop any kind of forward-looking policy, he said.

"There has been a lack of leadership in Washington," he charged. California and 13 other states have sought a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency to impose a 30 percent cut in tailpipe emissions by 2016.

Schwarzenegger said he favored a single standard on regulating emissions of greenhouses gases, blamed for global warming and climate change.

That is the position favored by the US automakers, who have complained that the development of new vehicles would be impaired if multiple-state level standards prevailed.

"It would make more sense," Schwarzenegger said. However, he added if there was a single standard in the US, it should be tough enough to serve as a model for other countries in the developing world such as India, China and Brazil.

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