The media recently reported that electric vehicles cannot be charged in public locations due to incompatibility issues, some EV Supply Equipment (EVSE) installed in public locations are not provided by the manufacturer of the vehicle but by secondary manufacturers in the industry. The incompatibility arises from a lack of verification in the communication protocol resulting in a charge failure or other hazardous conditions. This could have a negative impact on the consumer’s adoption of the electric vehicle.
The common accepted global standard for electric vehicle charging is SAE J1772, which defines the technical specification requirements between the electric vehicle and EVSE. However, it doesn’t provide a unified verification process for communication protocol in a lab approved system. Due to the variance of the manufacturer design and differences in components, the communication problems occur during actual operation resulting in an unsuccessful charge. Electric Vehicle and EVSE compatibility is imperative to consumer buy-in. However, the high costs to develop test system hardware, software and test procedures as well resource allocation has been prohibitive – until now.
Chroma has developed an Electric Vehicle AC Charging Compatibility Test System for the manufacturers of electric vehicles. This has resulted in the world’s first UL approved SAE J1772 EVSE Communication Protocol Automated Test System. The system simulates various states of an EVSE to validate AC charging compatibility before electric vehicle delivery. The solution has been adopted by a Korean electric vehicle plant and Chroma has recently acquired the bid of the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) as the future evaluation system of Taiwan electric vehicles. The system’s main functions are as follows:
- To simulate varied EVSE’s for testing if the electric vehicle can perform accurately or respond appropriately when the pilot signal contains an error; based on the requirements of different regulations.
- Test various EVSE communication and responses based on limits outlined in SAE J1772 standard to assure compatibility.