ElaadNL conducted the world’s largest smart charging test program known to date, commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management as part of the national program “Smart Charging for All” (part of the Dutch National Charging Infrastructure Agenda). Over a period of 11 months, a grand total of 142 vehicles where tested, 114 Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), and 28 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) and 10 Charge points of almost all makes and models were thoroughly assessed at the Elaad Testlab in Arnhem. This group of tested vehicles and charge points provides valuable insight into the current Dutch market regarding smart charging for the passenger car fleet.
Smart charging is adjusting the speed or timing of the charging of electric vehicles. The charging can be adjusted to changing prices, availability of local (sustainable) power and to avoid grid congestion.
The primary aim of the smart charging tests was to verify the technical feasibility of smart charging across a broad range of vehicles and public – and private charging stations currently available on the Dutch market. The report titled ‘SMART CHARGING TESTING: Technical verification of Machine to Machine (M2M) communication between vehicles and charging stations’ concludes that a majority of these electric vehicles passed the different tests with flying colours. These results provide us with valuable information for the rollout of smart charging functionalities. A re-assuring outcome as in general both vehicles and chargers perform as expected within a normal smart charging operation.
The smart charging of electric vehicles will make the energy system more flexible and is indispensable for the transition to sustainable energy and mobility in the Netherlands and Europe. Smart Charging delivers significant advantages for our society, both for EV drivers and the providers of charging services. As such, the Dutch National Charging Infrastructure Agenda (NAL) considers smart charging as fundamental prerequisite to decarbonize the transport sector. As such the NAL has convened around a national scale up program titled ‘Smart charging for all’ aiming for the scaling-up process, in close collaboration with all stakeholders in the charging chain.
Within the ambition is laid down that by the end of 2025, more than 60% of all charging sessions are smart. In order to achieve this goal, the program caters for an attractive offering for users, a national rollout of grid-aware charging and boosts overall awareness, knowledge and enthusiasm among users to adopt smart charging. The approach is focused on various aspects that will prove effective, in the short term. In the elaboration and implementation stages, the program prefers to keep things simple and will focus on what is currently achievable.
Hence testing electric vehicles for their smart charging readiness is an essential part of the action plan and key for a smooth implementation of smart charging, providing an attractive user experience, promoting sustainability and increasing the confidence of (potential) owners, as well as vehicle manufacturers and dealers, of electric vehicles and their charging infrastructure. The testing program of substantial number of electric vehicles contributes to the development of reliable smart charging sessions of various electric vehicles, ensuring a seamless cooperation between vehicles and smart charging infrastructure and as a result supports the transition to sustainable mobility systems underpinning the smooth integration of the electric vehicle delivering our future-proof electricity system.
The testing program included established automotive brands and newer entrants to the EV market, providing insight into the current state of smart charging integration in the Netherlands. On average a vehicle was available at the Elaad Testlab for a period of 48 to 72 hours. On the Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) or charging equipment side, a selection of 10 makes and models was made, based on the components most common in public – and private charging stations in The Netherlands. As the program “Smart Charging for All” focuses on destination locations such as home and work, the scope of the technical tests was restricted to AC chargers.
The foundation for the smart charging tests was based on IEC 61851-1 (2019), which outlines the general requirements for conductive charging systems for electric vehicles. In addition to this standard, tests were added to simulate everyday behaviour. These are essential for understanding how vehicles interact with smart charging infrastructure in realistic settings. Finally, some more extreme scenarios were tested. The control signal in all test scenarios originated from the charging station. The results provided in the report thereby mainly reflect the capabilities of the onboard charger in the car. The tests performed in the test program focused on customer perspective, power quality immunity and power quality emissions, with smart charging scenario’s ranging from present usage to extreme conditions.
While large majority of tests scored “passed” for over 95% of tested market share, a number of technical issues have been revealed. From a macro perspective these issues are exceptions to the rule, but on a micro level they can have a direct noticeable impact for the end-user. Although it is hard to quantify the number of end-users affected by the issues, it is strongly advocated that all stakeholders actively address issues when possible.
Considering the fact that smart charging standards are still not mandatory for all parties, and no formal conformity tests are available, the Elaad Testlab will continue to test vehicles and chargers free of charge until formal standards including certification have been set. All relevant parties are invited to make use of these testing possibilities and/or to inform other relevant manufacturers. The ambition is to further enhance smart charging tests to also include (amongst others) other routes for the control signal (car and energy management system), bidirectional charging, EU grid codes, cybersecurity, interoperability and more advanced power quality tests.