Initiative Promises to Speed Up EV/Charger/Grid Interoperability
The Linux Foundation Energy (LF Energy) EVerest Project is partnering with the International Energy Agency (IEA) to address several of the biggest challenges in the development of practical standards and interoperability guidelines for bidirectional EV charging, aka vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems. This collaboration aims to bring the EVerest project’s expertise with developing open-source solutions and protocols for EV charging stations and on-board chargers (OBCs) to the IEA’s Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Technology Collaboration Program (HEV TCP).
This collaboration is significant because it has the potential to help the industry heal the fractured patchwork of non-interoperable protocols and hundreds of grid codes that support communication between charging stations and power providers.
The work is being conducted within a segment of the IEA’s HEV TCP program that's focused on upcoming updates to the ISO 15118-2X standard for V2G communications. This initiative, known as the Interoperability of Bidirectional Charging (INBID) initiative, commonly referred to as Task 53, aims to test the conformance of the amendments related to bidirectional charging. Task 53 has two main objectives:
- Ensure interoperability between bidirectional charging stations and vehicles.
- Ensure interoperability between bidirectional charging stations and distribution grids.
Both the EVerest project and Task 53 are working to remove those hurdles and increase interoperability: EVerest would implement a universal open-source charger firmware covering all relevant standards and their variations, and Task 53 would organize cross-system interoperability testing. These approaches strongly complement each other, and further collaboration will provide significant improvements in interoperability between charging stations and power providers, as well as between charging stations and EVs.
LF Energy EVerest will be able to support conformance testing with its expertise in establishing universal open-source charger firmware that works with all relevant industry standards, including variations.
EVerest: An EV-Charging Framework
LF Energy EVerest is an open-source modular framework for EV charging, consisting of multiple modules that can be configured and customized for any necessary use case. It also covers many other major industry standards, such as ISO 15118-20, as well as flexible logic to connect all of them. EVerest was originated by PIONIX GmbH and contributed to LF Energy in early 2022. EVerest is licensed under Apache 2.0. Find further information here.
Task 53: Bidirectional Charging Interoperability
The IEA’s HEV TCP program focuses on pre-competitive research as well as the production and dissemination of information related to EV technology. As part of its efforts to address interoperability issues, HEV TCP initiated Task 53: Interoperability of Bidirectional Charging (INBID). Find further information here.
About LF Energy
LF Energy provides a 21st century plan of action to solve climate change through open frameworks, reference architectures, and a support ecosystem of complementary projects. Strategic Members include Alliander, Google, Microsoft, RTE and Shell, in addition to over 60 General and Associate Members from across the energy industry, technology, academia, and government. Find further information here.
