EV Charging Station and Infrastructure Testing

Testing and certification of Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment

In today’s era of e-mobility, the number of electric vehicles (EVs) continues to rise in many countries around the world.

Governments and companies are investing heavily in developing and expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure to keep them all on the road. This is creating a fragmented market with many different standards that may apply when testing and certifying EV charging station technology.

An introduction to EV Charging Stations

Electric vehicles need a charging station to recharge their batteries. Regular charging stations are primarily installed in residential or urban environments, such as outside people’s homes or in public car parks. These are based on alternating current (AC) and tend to have fairly low power. They take several hours to charge a vehicle, but this is not usually a problem when people are at home, at work or out shopping, for example.

To remove range anxiety and enable drivers to recharge quickly during longer journeys, high power charging stations are increasingly being installed along major travel corridors such as motorways. These fast chargers are based on direct current (DC) and have higher power. The technology is already being taken a step further, leading to the emergence of high-power DC charging (HPC) which can provide up to 350 kW of power for ultrafast EV charging. However, the availability of high-power charging poses even higher risks to safety, so it is increasingly important that the standards adequately take these risks into account.

To ensure the continued adoption of electric vehicles, a seamless charging experience with any vehicle and supply equipment is important. For this reason, strict standard conformance is at the core to achieve seamless interoperability of Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE), vehicles and back-office systems.

The CharIN industry consortium is working to establish the Combined Charging System (CCS) as the global standard to enable interoperable DC and AC charging as an important component in the ecosystem. This is supported by many European, North American and Asian car manufacturers, and DEKRA is one of the core members.

In addition, DEKRA is heavily engaged in further charging standards, such as EV -READY, backed by the French car manufacturers, CHAdeMO, backed by Japanese car manufacturers and GB/T (China) standards.

Testing EV Charging Station Technology and Infrastructure

At DEKRA, we offer end to end testing and certification services for all types of electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) including home & industrial charging solutions (including for e-buses and e-trucks), fast-chargers, vehicle-to-grid chargers and inductive charging systems.

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing ensures that the electronics within EVSE do not emit interference and that they will continue to function in the presence of various electromagnetic phenomena such as power supply surges or radiated electric fields. DEKRA is the first IECEE Certification Body accredited to certify EV charging systems against the EMC standard IEC 61851-21-2, which means DEKRA can test and certify any EVSE technology ranging from AC to DC and up to 360 kW.

DEKRA is also a recognized testing laboratory for CHAdeMO and EV READY, and is able to fully automate the testing of charging stations thanks to the Keysight Charging Discovery System and ChadeMO reference test tool.

Another relevant communication protocol in this area is Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) testing, developed by the Open Charge Alliance, which DEKRA is part of. The OCPP protocol is used worldwide to correctly exchange information between the EV charging station and the charging station management system operated by the CPOs. The advancement of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and smart charging applications is making communication protocols even more crucial, as the EV is increasingly becoming an active element in the grid.

DEKRA’s scope for EV Charging Station Technology and Infrastructure Testing:

• Safety and functional testing (IEC 61851, SAE J1772, UL 2202, UL 2594)
• EMC testing (IEC 61851-21-2)
• Interoperability & conformance testing (CHAdeMO, CharIN-CCS, OCPP, ISO 15118, DIN 70121, GB/T 27930)
• Electrical safety (IEC 61851, IEC 62752, UL 2231)
• Functional safety (IEC 61508
• Market-specific requirements (EV READY)
• Performance testing (IEC 62116)
• Wireless testing (IECEE 802.11p/Wi-Fi, 3G/4G/5G)
• Development testing
• Validation testing
• Environmental testing
• EV charging cables (IEC 62893, IEC 62752)
• Grid (IEC 60364-7-722, IEC 62909-1/2)
• Connectors/ inlets/ plugs (IEC 62196)