Last week, Hyundai-Kia announced it had concluded a three-year project to develop a wireless fast-charging power transfer system using electromagnetic fields for use in electric vehicles.
Now, another new electric vehicle charging program is being established by Daimler and emobility vendor Hubject that is designed to help drivers access any public charging stations.
Called Plug&Charge, the system meets the international standard ISO 15118 and Daimler has launched the first electric vehicle in series production that supports Plug&Charge with the smart EQ fortwo/forfour EV.
Current charging cards and smartphone apps are subject to regular criticism due in particular to their complex nature, Daimler says. The Plug&Charge ecosystem attempts to simplify the process as it does not require any other access media. The system also offers better approaches to security due to modern encryption and signature mechanisms.
The ISO standard 15118 governs the automated, secure exchange of information between the vehicle and the charging infrastructure based on digital certificates. Once the connection between the vehicle and the charging station is established, the authorization data from the driver is transmitted and compared in encrypted form. After that, the charging process starts and payment is carried out without further action. Plug&Charge via ISO 15118 enables secure authentication and authorization of a charging process for the first time where all that is required is a plug in the charging cable, even while offline.
The smart EQ fortwo/forfour supports ISO 15118 is already ready for future rollout of the system. Daimler says all EV automotive players are open to joining Hubject’s ISO 15118 ecosystem. The standard also describes further types of applications such as the future integration of EVs in the energy grid.
