Experts of ElaadNL, knowledge and innovation centre for smart and sustainable charging of electric vehicles (EV), studied the ISO 15118 standard for communication between electric vehicle and charging station. In the publication ‘Exploring the Public Key Infrastructure for ISO 15118 in the EV Charging Ecosystem’ they explain how the 15118 protocol works and conclude that the standard can help to take the next step in smart charging by adding user information to the EV ecosystem. They advocate an open system to accomplish this. The study was handed over to ISO 15118 expert Jens Schmutzler and Yasmine Assef from Renault during the Global EV Charging Test in Arnhem.
Smart charging of electric vehicles creates a whole ecosystem of ICT protocols that regulate how different devices communicate with each other. For example, public charging stations communicate with a back office about who wants to charge (subscription owner), the amount of kilowatts that is delivered to the car, the invoice and more. The worldwide accepted open standard OCPP, which development originally started in the Netherlands at ElaadNL, is being used for this.
Another ICT connection that can be established is between electric vehicle and charging station. For this purpose, the ISO 15118 standard is in development. This standard handles authorisation, authentication, security and additional smart charging information. Experts of ElaadNL explain ISO 15118 in their publication and indicate what challenges there are. They give suggestions on how the protocol can become a real open standard in a way that various parties, large and small, are able to use it. And how the consumer can benefit most from the features of the standard. New innovations can benefit from the standard as well. Smart Charging services can be offered more easily: for example, primarily charging a car when energy prices are low using available solar and wind energy.
The authors conclude that a well-designed and open system for ISO 15118 can benefit all parties in the EV ecosystem. Lonneke Driessen from ElaadNL: ‘We are looking forward to the discussion with all interested companies and governments about the question what is the best way of co-creating an open system for communication between electric vehicle and charging station.’
‘Exploring the Public Key Infrastructure for ISO 15118 in the EV Charging Ecosystem’ is also available for download (PDF).