According to the Sustainable Energy Authority (SEAI), at the end of October 2022, there were over 67,000 electric vehicles in Ireland, including plug-in hybrids. The Irish government’s target is to have 945,000 electric vehicles on roads by 2030. While the dream of automatic recharging doesn’t come true, the institutions that provide the standards for EV charging equipment must go full throttle to keep up with infrastructure and the industry’s newest technologies.
Among standards established in the past year, I.S. EN IEC 63110-1:2022 is a crucial publication, as it provides the protocol for the management of electric vehicle charging and discharging infrastructures. It hasn’t been completed yet, but the first part of the standard addresses the general requirements for the establishment of an e-mobility eco-system and covers the communication and data flows between different e-mobility actors, as well as with the electric power system.
It also includes asset management of EV supply equipment (EVSE), including controlling, monitoring, maintaining, provisioning, firmware update and profile configuration. Another interesting section is the one on authentication, authorisation or payment of charging and discharging sessions. It is an important standard for remote control and monitoring of the charging infrastructure.
Other standards to watch
The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) is expecting more regulations to come soon from the International Electrotechnical Commission, as the IEC is working on projects on high-power wireless transfer, megawatt charging, the exchange of local charging stations with local energy management systems, management of distributed energy storage based on EVs and other areas.
Standard I.S. EN IEC 61980-3:2022 specifies requirements for magnetic field wireless power transfer systems, while the second editions of I.S. EN 61851-23:2014 and I.S. EN 61851-24:2014 establish rules for digital communication between a D.C. EV charging station and an electric vehicle for control of D.C. charging.
The IEC has also started reviewing several standards, such as I.S. EN IEC 63110-1:2022, which is the basic conductive charging standard and applies to EV supply equipment for charging electric vehicles, with a rated supply voltage up to 1 000 V A.C. or up to 1 500 V D.C.
The European Commission has also been promoting its common charging standards, known as the Combined Charging System (CCS). They include EN 621962 for alternative current (A.C.) and EN 62196-3 for direct current (D.C.), based on the IEC 62196 series of standards. The regulations cover the mechanical, electrical and performance requirements for plugs, sockets/outlets, vehicle connectors and vehicle inlets for the connection between the EV supply equipment and the electric vehicle. These standards will promote harmonised access to different charging networks not only in Ireland but across the continent.
Source: “E-mobility builds on standards” in e-tech – News and views from the IEC, issue 06/2022.
