Intelligent Charging With the New ISO 15118-20 Standard

Electromobility Benefits From Attractive Innovations and Detail Improvements

The idea of smart charging has dominated many discussions about electromobility in recent years. ISO 15118 defines
­important principles and standards relating to charging communication. The publication of the ISO 15118-20 ­subdocument
in April 2022 marks a milestone on the road to the future of electromobility and standardizes numerous functional
­enhancements.

This year’s Vector E-Mobility Symposium in Stuttgart ­especially in view of the fact of the increasing share of
­focused on the innovations of ISO 15118-20 and related ­renewable energy sources.
­issues. The event took place in person once again for the
first time since COVID-19 and set a new record with a total
of 172 participants. The wide range of participants ­underlies
the international orientation and allows looking forward to
the 10th anniversary next year.

Electromobility Stabilizes Renewable Energy Supply

At first glance, electromobility is a large energy consumer Insert figure
that places an additional burden on the power grid. At the
same time, in conjunction with smart charging, it provides
essential added value for the future smart grid. ­Bidirectional
Power Transfer (BPT) is among the new features of
ISO 15118-20: the ability of electric vehicles not only to take
energy from the grid, but also to feed energy back to it
when needed. The current situation of imminent energy Figure 1: The Vector E-Mobility Symposium 2022 took place in
­person once again and attracted wide interest among the
shortages lends particular importance to this aspect,
­audience.

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The amount of energy generated from renewable energy
sources is naturally subject to greater fluctuations and
cannot be planned in detail. If the balance between
­generated and consumed energy cannot be maintained,
there is a risk of a grid collapse. At such moment millions of
electric vehicles, that are connected to the grid to charge,
can prevent this. Together, they form a decentralized ­energy
storage system that is quickly able to stop charging and
even switch to regenerative operation to stabilize the
­interconnected grid. The aim is by no means to supply the
entire country with electricity through electric vehicles, but
to bridge the time until the power plants ramp up for
­primary control. The prerequisite for this is smart charging
with charging communication in accordance with
ISO 15118-20 between the vehicle and the charging station.
New Functions in ISO 15118-20
ISO 15118 defines the high-level communication for the
Combined Charging System (CCS) prevalent in Europe, the
USA, South Korea and other countries. CCS uses the same
connectors for both AC charging and fast DC charging.
Currently produced and registered electric vehicles ideally
support ISO 15118-2 in the so-called first generation, which
comprises five sub-documents.
The sub-document ISO 15118-20 “Network Protocol and
Application Protocol Requirements” was published in April
and is part of the second generation. It replaces sub-­
document ISO 15118-2 and describes the requirements for
the network protocol as well as the application protocol.
The innovations can be found in the areas of energy ­transfer
modes, physical layer and security. In addition to the
Bidirectional Power Transfer (BPT), Wireless
­ Power
Transfer
­ (WPT) and Automatic Connecting Device
­Pantograph (ACD-P) are added as new energy transfer
modes. WLAN according to IEEE 802.11n serves as the
physical layer for wireless communication. Moreover,
ISO 15118-20 always requires TLS encryption with two-way
authentication according to TLS 1.3 for charging
communication, regardless of whether Plug-and-Charge
­ ­before the charging station offers its available services.
(PnC) is used or not.
Regarding BPT, it should be added that future electric
­vehicles may also be able to provide emergency power to
households or act as a buffer for the energy generated via
solar cells. An important requirement for BPT is the
­Dynamic Mode, in which the vehicle hands over charging
control to the infrastructure. Electric vehicles can thus
­receive commands from the smart grid to throttle or pause
the charging process, or even to feed energy back. Whereas
with Scheduled Mode the vehicle has the control. Here the
smart grid can only provide incentives via low prices to
­influence the vehicle’s charging process.
Technical Article / 10/2022
Automatic and Convenient: WPT and ACD-P
Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) uses inductive power
transfer based on IEC 61980 and simplifies charging,
­
­especially in conjunction with PnC. The charging process
starts automatically, without the need to connect a
charging cable. The standard defines functions for fine
­positioning, pairing and checking alignment of the vehicle
to the ground pad. Currently, the focus is exclusively on
static charging. In the future, WPT could also be used
semi-dynamically in public parking lots, at cab stands or in
front of traffic lights.
ACD-P, Automatic Connection Device Pantograph, enables
electric buses to be charged automatically via pantographs
at bus stops or in depots. Outputs of more than 350 kW
can be realized in this way. Further ACD methods are
planned for the next revision, such as automated coupling
either by CCS connector (ACD-S) or by means of an arm
that connects from underneath the vehicle (ACD-U).
Numerous Detail Improvements in Charging
­Communication
ISO 15118-20 requires mutual authentication of vehicle and
infrastructure. While ISO 15118-2 compatible charging
­stations are not able to recognize whether the counterpart
is actually a vehicle, this is now possible by default in
ISO 15118-20. By validating the new vehicle certificate,
charging stations may only provide their services to trusted
vehicles.
The new generation offers improved handling of multiple
contract certificates. While ISO 15118-2 only allows the
installation of one contract certificate per session,
­
ISO 15118-20 allows any number of them to be installed in
succession. In addition, ISO 15118-20 allows the offering of
another contract certificate or even the fallback to ­External
Identification Means (EIM) if the charging station does not
recognize or rejects the offered contract certificate.
According to the new standard, the user must first be
­authorized at the charging station or by means of PnC
The infrastructure side could thus differentiate between its
own customers, roaming customers or guests, or take
­special rate options into account. Therefore, bidirectional
charging is only offered to a defined group of users who
have previously agreed to the special conditions. For
comparison, in the previous ISO 15118-2 document, the
­
order of authorization and service offering was exactly
­
­reversed. Thus, user group-specific services are not possible
here.
Greater Flexibility in Pricing
ISO 15118-20 offers considerable progress in the options for
pricing. This is now based on absolute prices instead of the
relative price model, which is oriented to a 100% value
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defined in the contract. The problem here is that the
­
charging station cannot always reliably find out the 100%
value. The underlying criteria for the price can be very
­diverse in the new system. The price can be specified in
­different ways, for example, per kilowatt hour or per ­minute
of parking and charging. Flat rates can be defined, or
­minimum and maximum charges. E.g., you pay a minimum
of 5 euros but a maximum of 30 euros as an upper limit.
Combined billing depending on parking time and charging
power or energy consumed is also possible. For example,
those users who charge at high power are allowed to park
for free, while the provider charges a parking and charging
fee for low charging power. If a vehicle blocks the charging
station beyond the charging process (overstay), it is also
possible to map different pricing models here. ­Infrastructure
providers can now penalize users with a higher price, who
have been charging for a long time and have exceeded the
agreed time limit, or who charge at too low power.
In ISO 15118-2, the charging controller in the vehicle
­determine the maximum charging power according to the
charging profile used. If the vehicle reserves more charging
power in the process than it actually uses, the ­infrastructure
side cannot exploit its maximum power by making the
­unused power available to other vehicles. This problem has
been solved in ISO 15118-20. The charging station can set a
tolerance band around the charging profile selected by the
vehicle (figure 2). If the vehicle’s charging power exceeds or
falls below the tolerance limit, the charging station is able
to react to thisby renegotiating in which it offers only a low
power, or by terminating charging. Overall, this allows the
infrastructure to distribute its power optimally. The new
standard also solves other shortcomings of the previous
version, for example through multiplexed communication
Insert figure
Figure 2: The tolerance band has to be maintained by the electric
vehicle and ensures that the charging station can use all the power
available to it.
Technical Article / 10/2022
Insert figure
Figure 3: Browser-based vCharM provides easy access to all
­information and controls required for charging station operation.
or maintaining vehicle communication for Value Added
Services (VAS) while the actual charging process is in
­
standby mode.
E-Mobility and Intelligent Energy Distribution
Another focus of the Vector E-Mobility Symposium dealt
with intelligent distribution of energy - an indispensable
r­equirement for future electromobility. The amount of
­energy available for electric vehicles is not only limited in
absolute terms, but also subject to temporal and natural
fluctuations. Intelligent charging communication, powerful
Charging Station Management Systems (CSMS) and an
infrastructure based on modular power electronics are
­becoming increasingly important as more electric vehicles
hit the road.
In the case of previous AC charging at wallboxes or public
charging points, the electric vehicle usually draws the
­energy at the maximum possible power, even if this would
not be necessary. Newer systems and wallboxes distribute
the energy more intelligently or also allow the grid operator
to influence the charging processes. These can throttle
power, stop it altogether for a time, or even feed it back to
the grid, as described earlier. While charging powers are
small for AC charging, energy management is even more
urgent for fast DC charging at high charging powers.
Energy management and administration can be handled in
conjunction with the appropriate power electronics with a
suitable CSMS backend. For operators of charging parks,
electric fleets, company parking lots, etc., the CSMS
vCharM is available from Vector (figure 3). vCharM ­provides
configuration, maintenance, and monitoring of charging
points, as well as vehicle preconditioning, user ­authorization
and handling of payment and billing transactions. Security
certificates can also be managed and reports on ­completed
loading operations can be generated. vCharM enables
­various charging strategies such as ad-hoc planning and
ahead planning. Existing fleet and depot management
­systems can be easily integrated.
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Now the Industry Is in Demand
Standardization in the field of electromobility continues to
advance. A significant step has been taken with the
­publication of ISO 15118-20. OEMs, suppliers, infrastructure
and power grid operators now face the challenge of
­implementing both innovative functions such as BPT, WPT
and ACD-P as well as numerous detailed improvements
and integrating them into their products.
Translation of a German publication in emobility tec, issue
04/2022
Image rights: Vector Informatik GmbH
Technical Article / 10/2022
Dirk Großmann
As senior manager at Vector, Dirk Großmann is responsible for
the development of the Vector E-Mobility Solution. After
­studying electrical engineering at the University of Stuttgart and
six years of automotive ECU software development, he joined
Vector in 2003.
Fabian Eisele
Fabian Eisele is the product manager for MICROSAR.CHARGE in
the embedded software department. He has been working at
Vector since 2012 and took over the standardization activities of
ISO 15118-20 as project manager in 2018.
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