Page 18 - PEN eBook February 2024

AUTOMOTIVE
Addressing the
Challenges of EV
Charging Station Design
By Stefano Lovati, contributing writer for Power Electronics News
The swift and widespread acceptance of electric ▶ Accuracy. When we measure the energy
vehicles in recent times has resulted in a significant
and fundamental change in the automotive industry,
signaling a more environmentally friendly and enduring
future for transportation. Nevertheless, the increased
popularity of EVs has revealed a range of difficulties
in the design and implementation of EV charging
stations. Tackling these difficulties is crucial to
guaranteeing the smooth incorporation of EVs into our
everyday routines.
This article will focus on the primary design ▶ Security. In EV charging, the need for security
problems and solutions related to EV charging station
design, as discussed in the session “NXP Enablement
for Electric Vehicle Charging,” by Mark Swinburn, EV
charging vertical manager at NXP Semiconductors,
at the recent Fortronic 2023 event. These challenges
include ensuring adherence to the relevant standards,
such as ISO/IEC 15118.
KEY DESIGN CHALLENGES
As Swinburn pointed out in his talk, there are six
challenges with EV supply equipment (EVSE) design:
18 FEBRUARY 2024 | www.powerelectronicsnews.com
that flows from the grid into the vehicle, we
need high accuracy. This also involves other
relevant aspects, such as legislation, load
balancing from the grid and latency. Some of
the new microgrid markets are enabling energy
exchange (V2G/H), and therefore, we must
also think about traceability. Finally, we want
to give customers who recharge their vehicles
maximum flexibility with the energy supplier.
is ever increasing. This demand has led to the
formulation of specific standards, such as
ISO/IEC 15118. Security becomes paramount
as we scale the installations of EV chargers. If
a single EV charger is exposed and hacked, it
cannot be considered a problem. However, if
we have hundreds of thousands of charges and
someone can gain access to them, there might
be potential issues with the grid. That would
become critical to a nation’s infrastructure.
Moreover, if the EV charger is accessible to
AUTOMOTIVE
the public, it must provide a card payment, when new functionalities come along can
and that will carry its own set of security become a challenge, as we need to operate
requirements. without having to remove the charging station,
which would be very expensive.
▶ Cloud onboarding. If we’re installing a charger,
it will likely be connected to a network and ▶ Artificial intelligence and machine learning.
maybe to a back end so that the customer or This involves the ability for charging stations to
the operator can gain access to the EV charger decide on the edge and not having to send all
and interact with its behavior. That access of the information to a back end, which takes
needs to be granted in a very secure way time and could be expensive. Making decisions
through cloud onboarding. at the edge is becoming more and more
common.
▶ Scalability. Scaling performance and capability
▶ Availability and reliability. We
Optimize the electrification properties need to make sure that the
devices and the technology
of your EV power electronics that we are designing today are
& electric propulsion systems going to be available to us for
several years.
THE ISO 5118 STANDARD
The evolution of the standards
applicable to EV charging is summarized
in Figure 1. In the beginning, there
was just simple AC charging, with
monodirectional communication. This
system was later enhanced with the
Japanese CHAdeMO standard, which
introduced DC charging for the first
Achieve near-perfect magnetic circuits • GFCI’s used time. It also gave us the ability to take
with our tape wound toroidal & cut in Electric energy from the car battery and put it
back into the home (V2G capability with
cores, specifi cally designed to: Vehicles, bidirectional power transfer).
• Outperform transformer laminations, • Inductors,
• Minimize electrical losses, converters & The DIN SPEC 70121 standard, released
• Reduce component size & weight, inverters in 2014, covered only the DC charging
• Increase power density, We utilize the aspects. That was quickly followed
most advanced up by the first version of ISO 15118,
• Maximize performance grades of which covers both AC and DC charging
characteristics
soft magnetic and introduced security. Moreover,
materials, provide
Our cores deliver the essential materials, provide ISO 15118 supports Plug & Charge, a
magnetic properties and effi ciencies short turnaround mechanism that relies on certificates
required for: times, and off er and authentication to begin the charging
• Transformers that power EV both standard process without the need for credit
Charging Stations, and custom cores. cards or other forms of payment.
• Transformers that control & Contact us today to discuss which ISO 15118-2 is the most commonly used
monitor AC induction & DC motor magnetic materials and core designs standard today.
performance, will give you EV components with
• Power supplies that charge EV maximum electrifi cation properties. ISO 15118-20 is the standard’s latest
battery packs, generation. Built upon what we had
75+ YEARS before in ISO 15118-2, it adds more
OF CUSTOMER layers of stronger security, provision
SERVICE
for wireless charging and bidirectional
Phone: (856) 964-7842 Fax: (856) 365-8723 charging capability. Finally, we have the
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