The Innerworkings of Plug&Charge Using ISO 15118

Join CleanTechnica’s Zachary Shahan in conversation with Barton Sidles, the Director of Corporate and Business Development at Hubject Inc.’s North American subsidiary, for a free webinar May 9th, at 9am PDT/12pm EDT.  conversation live. Register here to join the conversation live; this webinar will also be livestreamed on CleanTechnica’s Facebook page.

The innerworkings of Plug&Charge and smart energy management features empowered by ISO 15118.

As Bart Sidles of Hubject explained in the first webinar, ISO 15118 enables the features and use cases that are needed to support the large number of EVs expected in next five to ten years and that benefit all players in the value chain including drivers, automakers, charging networks, utilities, and eMobility service providers.

In this follow-on webinar, Sidles will provide a deeper explanation surrounding the details and requirements needed to be ready for and implement ISO 15118 communication enabling Plug&Charge and in the future smart and bi-directional charging as well as wireless charging.

First and foremost, the basis of ISO 15118 communication is like any secure digital authorization method that we use every day on the internet or on our mobile devices – it’s called a public key infrastructure or PKI. PKIs are used to securely manage who’s who and who’s authorized to do what in a digital ecosystem. The key components of a PKI are a combination of software, hardware and detailed processes to issue, store and revoke digital certificates. These certificates are assigned by role and are encrypted with unique but mathematically related key pairs, (public key and private key). The certificates are generated from an extremely secure server called a “Root Certificate Authority”.

One of these Root CAs that helps tie the digital ISO 15118 ecosystem together is often referred to as the “V2G Root CA.” Within the ISO 15118 ecosystem, the certificate roles consist of Automaker / OEM, Mobility Operator / Driver Contract Holder, and Charge Port Operator / Charging Network. These certificates ensure the authenticity and integrity of the players and is needed to operate in the ISO 15118 system enabling Plug&Charge and the higher functioning smart grid features.

Once the secure certificates are issued, assigned, and installed into the vehicles, chargers and driver accounts, ISO 15118 communication is enabled and the ecosystem can automatically identify who’s who and what they’re allowed to do. The webinar will walk through this process of certificate installation and how this plays an important role in the security of EV charging.

Today this protocol means Plug&Charge, but soon after we will begin to see monumental leaps in capabilities and features coming from ISO 15118 that will support growing number of electric vehicles, protect the electric grid, and enable wireless charging and autonomous vehicles. Welcome to the world of the Jetson’s, everyone!

More about Barton + Hubject

Barton Sidles has more than 25 years of experience in international business development, disruptive mobility operations, clean energy, transportation, sales/marketing, mergers and acquisitions and PR. Prior to joining Hubject, he helped to launch Green Commuter, an EV vanpool/car share service.

Hubject is a consulting partner to automakers, charging providers and other EV-related businesses looking to launch eMobility services or implement Plug&Charge using ISO 15118. Additionally, its eRoaming platform, called intercharge, connects more charge port operators and eMobility service providers worldwide creating seamless charging access for 100,000 chargers.

Register here for this free webinar!