When it comes to EV charging, we’re on the brink of something good. The growth of publicly available chargers in Europe follows a nice hockey stick pattern, and more and more people dare to take their EVs out for long drives. But we’re not quite there yet. EV drivers still suffer from range anxiety, and charge point operators (CPO) still have to find a way to overcome obstacles in the field of connectivity, security and payments, just to name a few. How can they get it done and boost the EV movement? Koen Elands, product owner at Peblar, shares some valuable insights.
Why am I in charge?
The EV industry knows many players, including utilities, energy providers, technology companies, car manufacturers and charging station suppliers. All of these players can also take on the role of charge point operator (CPO) that manages, operates and maintains the charging stations. Together, this colourful group of CPOs plays a crucial part in the way we’ll build the EV charging infrastructure, and they’ll need to find a way to work together, learn together and build an interoperable and future-proof EV charging network.
Certainly not the easiest of tasks. Let’s look at (and tackle) these four CPO charging challenges that lie ahead.
Charging challenge #1. connectivity
In the world of electric driving, seamless and reliable connectivity is crucial for various operational aspects, including monitoring, billing, and maintenance of charging infrastructure. When connectivity is unstable or even non-existent, essential functions can be disrupted, causing inconvenience and inefficiency. “The tricky part about connectivity is that it varies from country to country,” says Koen. “This has a major impact on the expansion plans of CPOs that have to tailor their strategy to the country or even region they’re in.” He mentions LTE Cat M, which is not yet available in all countries, and 2G, which is being phased out in countries one by one.
Koen: “Take the Netherlands, for instance, which has excellent mobile reception. Their robust connectivity enables CPOs to easily collect real-time data, efficiently manage charging sessions, and ensure a smooth user experience. On the other hand, countries like Germany still face challenges in terms of mobile reception in certain rural areas. Limited connectivity can hinder effective monitoring of charging stations, leading to potential delays in maintenance and customer support.”
Moreover, poor connectivity may affect the billing and payment systems, causing inconvenience for EV owners. Koen says: “If mobile connectivity is insufficient, don’t use it. Instead, use Ethernet, which, unlike wireless connections, provides a wired connection that offers higher bandwidth, low latency, and more consistent connectivity.”
Charging challenge #2. security
Another hurdle on the way to an EV-focused future is security. “There are a lot of unsecured charging station connections out there,” Koen says. “Which is a problem, as an unsafe EV charging connection has the power to significantly damage a business.” First of all, it’s often easy for people with bad intentions to mimic a charge point and access the backoffice or access an unprotected backoffice and control a group of chargers. Secondly, these same people can cause power fluctuations resulting in power outages, which can stop company-critical applications and completely paralyse operations.
Reason enough to highly secure all your charging stations, Koen says. “A properly secured EV charging network has multiple levels of security, which are encrypted messages, standard authentication password, and a closed network.” Operators should use encryption to safeguard data transmitted between devices and networks. By employing encrypted messages and standard authentication password protocols, they can ensure that data derived from connected devices remains protected. Second, enforcing password requirements for backoffice access adds an extra layer of security. This can include using randomly generated passwords, which help prevent unauthorised access to the network. Last but not least, Koen recommends maintaining a closed network environment with end-to-end encryption and limiting access to authorised entities only.
Charging challenge #3. grid connection
As a CPO, the last thing you want is a power outage. When left with no electricity, the entire EV charging concept falls apart, which will make customers angry and drive EV users back to their combustion engine cars. “I highly recommend installing dynamic charging options,” Koen says. “This helps you assign electricity where electricity is most needed. Based on the power used in, for example, the company building next to the EV parking lot, the energy management system can inform the master charger to decrease the power supply to the charging stations.”
He continues: “Ideally, you create an ecosystem with the building, the charging stations, and any solar panels you may have. You can choose to keep these separate, but then you’ll need to replace the fuse box or transistor, which is expensive and requires a higher power rating.” When this is dynamically controlled, the mains connection per entity can be reduced in power rating, saving significant costs.
The problem of a power outage seems to be more damaging for a big company compared to a small-scale apartment complex. Then again, as energy consumption increases and more and more EVs enter our garages and neighbourhoods, CPOs in all sectors need to make sure that the power supply can handle the demand.
Charging challenge #4. payments
Payments and the availability of payment methods are still a significant challenge for CPOs, too. Currently, the lack of standardised payment systems and interoperability between different charging networks complicates the charging experience for EV users, forcing them to bring several charging cards on their ride, especially when they go abroad. The absence of a unified payment infrastructure leads to inconvenience, confusion, and potential barriers to accessing charging services.
The good news is that the European Union has acknowledged these problems and come up with a very clever remedy. From 2024 on, there needs to be a fast charging station (150 kW+) every 60 kilometres (or ~40 miles) that accepts a credit or debit card. Thanks to this new policy, charging compatibility will go up while range anxiety is expected to go down, which will, in turn, increase the number of EV drivers.
Are we there yet?
To quote all kids around the world who ever sat in the backseat of a car: “Are we there yet?” The honest answer is no. Besides connectivity, security, grid connection and payments, we have some other battles to fight before we can achieve EV world dominance, including sustainability and future-readiness of charger station hardware. However, when CPOs tackle the charging challenges above, we are well on our way. So, to quote all moms and dads who’ve ever been on the road with their kids: “We’re almost there, but not quite.”
