victorian electric vehicle trial mid-term report - Department of Transport

5.1.4 How do users ‘roam’across the trial charginginfrastructure network?Participants have been able touse the various charging outletsprovided under the trial through theprovision of cables to match vehiclesto charging outlets, RFID cards toactivate the outlets, and informationto guide planning and use. Paymentfor use has generally occurredthrough the underlying electricitybilling arrangements for the site.Arrangements for the trial have beennegotiated on a business-to-businessbasis by the Department, includingwith vehicle suppliers, charginginfrastructure providers and hosts.Despite general agreement on thegoal for streamlined network roamingcapability, there is limited appetite foran industry standard at this stage ofthe market development due primarilyto cost/time constraints.Drawing upon the model provided byNous (2010), roaming by users acrossdifferent charging outlets and serviceproviders is underpinned by basicelements of system ‘interoperability’:1. Physical compatibility – theelectrical connection plugconfiguration must match theoutlet2. Systems compatibility – the onboardvehicle system must beable to interact with the chargingoutlet controller3. Financial reconciliation –arrangements must be in placeto allow for the various costsassociated with the chargingactivity to be reconciled4. User information – users mustknow where to find chargingoutlets and how to use them.Various layers of complexity may beadded to these elements to supportmore advanced system models.By way of example, identificationof users as part of the systemscompatibility will allow for moreadvanced financial reconciliationthrough user accounts and acrosscharging infrastructure providers.At the start of the trial, some of theissues included physical and systemscompatibility. Some fixes were neededto allow for basic user roaming:• Each charging infrastructureprovider technology has its ownsystem activation strategy mostlyutilising proprietary RFID cards –each trial participant is assigneda unique set of RFID cards forthe relevant vendors, which alsoenables charging activity data tobe reconciled to individual users• One charging infrastructureprovider adopted the IEC 62196‘Mennekes’ connectors asopposed to the SAE J1772 asfeatured by the trial vehicles – inaddition to their existing cables,each trial vehicle was kitted outwith a ‘floating’ cable that utilisedthe SAE standard on the vehicleendand the Mennekes standardon the infrastructure-end• The Model Year (MY) 2010Mitsubishi i-MiEVs were found touse a superseded specificationfor the on-vehicle charging outlet,resulting in varying degrees ofphysical incompatibility withthe charging infrastructure –modifications of the chargingcables were required to ensurephysical compatibility withthe vehicles• The MY2010 i-MiEV and the UKproduction-specification MY2011Nissan LEAFs utilised differentcharging protocols, preventingthem from being charged fromthe same specification outletsand ensuring network systemcompatibility – a modificationto the MY2010 i-MiEV chargingoutlet was undertaken to allowit to be charged using the SAEJ1772 Level 2 charging protocol,supported by warranties from thecharging infrastructure providers• The Toyota Prius PHEV preproductionprototype vehicleswere found to use an unfamiliarcharging protocol for many of thecharging infrastructure providers– this required some adaptationby the charging infrastructureproviders to ensure systemcompatibility• A commercial charging stationusing the SAE J1772 standardwas installed at a site whereaftermarket EV conversions werein operation, necessitating avehicle-based solution to allowfor both physical and systemcompatibility – the charginginfrastructure provider ClubAssist were able to provide acertified aftermarket solutionthat was accepted by the othercharging infrastructure providersto allow for vehicle roamingacross the network.