The Electromobility players get together to ensure a successful deployment of the new charging services

Versailles, France, November 9, 2021

The Mobena project was launched in September 2021 for two years. It brings together players from all the electric mobility value chain in France. Its aims to support the e-mobility companies in ensuring a successful deployment of the new generation of electric vehicle charging solutions. These solutions will simplify the user experience and improve the quality of service.

Interoperable charging services

Voitures électriques Peugeot et Renault en cours de chargementPlug and Charge and smart charging will be the first provided services. They require interactions between many players through various IT interfaces. These services must be clear, homogeneous, and interoperable to be easily adopted. Any vehicle must be able to charge with any charging infrastructure, relying on any service provider.

Mobena will particularly focus on integrating interoperability as an initial requirement and providing high value-added services through the massive adoption of the ISO 15118[1] standard in a competitive and open market.

[1] ISO 15118 standard defines communication and data transfers between the vehicle and the charging infrastructure.

 

20 mobility players engaged in Mobena

The Mobena project gathers 20 partners including 19 industrials. They represent all the mobility sector: Atos, Chargepoly, CRITT M2A, EDF, FEV France, GIREVE, Hager, IES Synergy, Legrand, Nexans, Renault, SAP Labs, Schneider-Electric, Stations-e, Stellantis, Thales, TotalEnergies, Valeo, VINCI Energies. The project is driven by VEDECOM.

Mobena continues to welcome new industrial partners from the e-mobility ecosystem who wish to position themselves on Plug and Charge and smart charging and contribute to the offer structuring.

The project is also open to institutional partners. These partners will help to prepare for the harmonious arrival of offers on the French market and will promote the orientations resulting from the project.

Mobena is part of an initiative addressing next-generation charging systems. This action was launched in 2020 by an initiative committee comprising  AFIREV, AVERE-France, GIMELEC, PFA, UFE and VEDECOM.

 

Supporting the deployment of plug and charge and smart charging

Le chef de projet Joe Matta au micro à l'occasion du lancement de Mobena, aux côtés de Tony Jaux Président de VEDECOM

Joe Matta, Projet Manager, with Tony Jaux, Charman of VEDECOM Board, on Nov. 9, 2021, during the official Mobena Project Kick Of.

The Mobena project partners will implement the following actions, in a collaborative framework within working groups:

  • Definition of a transition roadmap towards new generation charging solutions and use cases to be adopted, including Plug and Charge and smart charging.
  • Creation of technical guidelines for the development, testing and deployment of products and services supporting the ISO 15118 standard, validated by a technical committee before publication.
  • Identification and follow-up of pilot projects to test deliverables on the field.
  • Establishment of a dissemination and lobbying unit. It will ensure the consistency and relevance of the choices made by Mobena in regard of other European initiatives and ecosystems. It will disseminate the project’s choices for wide adoption and carry the idea of having a replicable solution at European level.

The project will focus on system architectures (interactions between the vehicle, the charging station and the operators’ backend) including communication protocols, PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) and cybersecurity. The approach integrates the two types of recharging, AC and DC.

The main results of the project will constitute a common good which will be made public at the end of the main project milestones.

 

Harmonized actions at a European level

Consensus and unity within the industry are prior to ensure the successful deployment of Plug and Charge and smart charging in an interoperable manner at European level.

To achieve this goal, Mobena seeks to collaborate with European organizations for the development and adoption of a reference architecture, both from a technical and organizational point of view. Such an architecture will ensure the interoperability of systems and allow an open and competitive market between electromobility players. It will allow end users and operators to freely select their service providers.

VEDECOM has been appointed member of the Sustainable Transport Forum (STF) sub-group of the European Commission dedicated to governance and communication standards within the electromobility ecosystem. The results of this group will be integrated into European regulations as part of the Fit for 55, in particular the revised Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR). VEDECOM will carry the position developed jointly with the Mobena project partners.

VEDECOM and Mobena partners, who are also members of CharIN (association which promotes the European charging standard – CCS) actively contribute to the working groups led by CharIN to develop benchmarks and roadmaps consistent with the Mobena vision.

In addition, VEDECOM and Mobena project partners are involved in setting up technical demonstrations to assess interoperability approaches in the charging ecosystem. This collaboration is part of a long-term partnership between VEDECOM and the Dutch innovation center Elaad. The two organizations have successfully carried out various joint demonstrations since 2018 in the field of smart charging.

 

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Read our last article on the same subject

The Mobena initiative accelerates the roll-out of new generation e-Mobility

Mobena harmonizes the deployment of new services for EV charging

May 17, 2021. The Mobena initiative was created in July 2020 by the main French professional organizations representing the electromobility ecosystem in the French market. The goal is to simplify the user experience by ensuring interoperability between charging systems and leading the way towards the deployment of a new generation of EV charging in the French market. The initiative now reaches two key milestones:

  1. the demonstration of an interoperability solution between multiple PKI (Public Key Infrastructure), organized with international partners of June 2nd, 2021. Learn more
  2. the kick-off of a collaborative project that gathers the e-Mobility actors and aims for ensuring a successful roll-out of the new EV charging services in the French market.

 

Towards an open and fair market with a reference architecture

The Mobena initiative’s objective is to ensure a successful deployment in the French market of the ISO 15118 services (Plug and Charge -PnC- and smart charging) in a harmonized way with Europe.

To do this, adopting a reference architecture, from technical and organizational point of view, is key. Such architecture shall ensure interoperability and enable an open and fair market between all EV actors and allow end-users and operators to freely select their providers.

A first technical feasibility verification

Atelier recharge VEDECOM vu de haut

In preparation for the event planned on June 2nd, the Mobena initiative partners tested the technical feasibility of the Certificate Trust List (CTL) as a solution for Plug and Charge (PnC) interoperability between multiple PKI.

On March 11th 2021, VEDECOM hosted a Workshop for this objective at mobiLAB with the contribution of Freshmile, GIREVE, Hager, Groupe Renault, Stellantis, SAP Labs, Thales et Trialog

About the Mobena initiative

The Mobena initiative was created in July 2020 by the main French professional organizations representing the electromobility ecosystem in the French market. The goal is to simplify the user experience by ensuring interoperability between charging systems and leading the way towards the deployment of a new generation of EV charging in the French market.

Coordinated by VEDECOM, the Mobena initiative committee regroups AFIREV, AVERE-France, PFA, GIMELEC, UFE and VEDECOM.

About twenty companies representing the different roles in the ecosystem have joined this initiative. The mission is to support the players of the EV charging ecosystem, operating in France, by defining the roadmap and the means to ensure a successful and harmonized deployment of the e-Mobility services. The Mobena project, which will be launched in July 2021 and extended to more partners, will particularly focus on integrating interoperability as an initial requirement and providing high added value services through a massive adoption of the ISO 15118 standard in a competitive and open market.

A particular focus will be put on Smart Charging, Plug and Charge and the implicated end-to-end system interfaces, including backend communication protocols (OCPP, OCPI…), PKI and cyber security. This for both AC and DC charging.

For more information: Joe.matta@vedecom.fr

More information about Mobena initiative:

 

MOBENA website

French industry has engaged in a collective Initiative for New-Generation Electric Charging

It will bring a better experience and more services to users. In addition, it will save costs!

Industrial representatives from all electric mobility players gathered in a first plennery session. Their aim is to support the deployment of the new-generation electric mobility. Ultimately, any AC and DC terminal installed in France should be compatible with the ISO 15118 vehicle-terminal communication standard, but also secure and interoperable.

If you have ever owned an electric vehicle, you know the pleasure of less polluting the air… but also the complications of recharging. Today, electric vehicle charging system is at a crossroads. The price of electric vehicles becomes accessible, the batteries are breaking distance records. To allow a better user experience and more services, the major remaining obstacle is the maturity of charging systems. If overcame, it will bring smart charging, plug & charge (see definitions below) and later on, bidirectionnal charging systems (the car recharges the network) or even wireless systems.

To achieve this, the main French and European players are converging towards compliance with a standard for communication between terminals and vehicles, the ISO15118 standard. However, to enable the emergence of terminals compatible with this standard, and therefore an open market, it is necessary to bring all the players around the table and agree on the final specifications. One major point remains to be defined: that of cybersecurity (PKI).

General mobilisation

To this end, the main organisations representing the sectors involved in electric recharging joined forces on 7 July 2020 in the form of an Initiative for New-Generation Electric Recharge: AFIREV (Association Française pour l’Itinérance de la Recharge Electrique), AVERE (Association nationale pour le développement de la mobilité électrique), PFA (Plateforme Française de l’Automobile) and the VEDECOM Institute (research and innovation on the mobilities of the future), the latter being tasked with coordinating the initiative.

Several workshops then gave rise to a plenary meeting on 17 September 2020, bringing together around fifteen French industrialists from each sector: energy specialists such as Enedis, car manufacturers such as PSA Group, such as Schneider Electric, charging infrastructure and e-mobility services operators such as Freshmile, technology and services for e-mobility suppliers such as Trialog.

Electric Charging Initiative partners ©VEDECOM

The circle will gradually be extended to all manufacturers in order to deploy the ISO 15118 standard by 2023.

The plenary session enabled the participation of other institutional actors such as the French Ministry of Ecology (DGEC), which supports and accompanies the Initiative. It will ensure that the specicifications defined by the Initiative for the developpers are consistent with the French “Objective 100,000 charging stations” plan. The Ile de France Region was also participating. The local authority is working since 2029 on the deployment of more than 5,000 charging stations by 2022, notably with the help of the IRVE label: a system that complements national aid such as Advenir. Finally, the initiative is working together with existing French and European working groups on this theme.

3 years to manage the deployment of a standard

If one wants to implement 15118 standard into charging systems and allow plug & charge service, it is first necessary for the charging stations manufacturers to make them interoperable, i.e. able to recognise any electricity supplier and any charging infrastructure operator. It is also necessary for charging infrastructure and e-mobility services operators, as well as for technology and service providers, to learn how to make this standard work, how to implement new blocks in their information systems. This first step will allow cardless charging and plug & charge. Finally, they need to improve the security of the connection.

To achieve this, VEDECOM, as the project’s prime contractor, has proposed a two-step calendar:

  • First step (2020): define the adapted cybersecurity architecture (ISO 15118 PKI) for Plug and Charge (PnC).
  • Second step (by 2021-23): define a standardised, interoperable and industrialisable PnC and Smart Charging system to support a collaborative deployment. Some tests will be carried out on pilot sites. Various documents will be produced by the working group, training and technical workshops will be proposed in 2021 and 2022. At the end of this stage, all the players will benefit of all necessary tools and knowledge. By 2023, the planners and operaters will be able to start the deployment of the new-generation electric charging.

What will ISO 15118 bring in charging systems?

  • Plug & Charge (PnC): this solution automatically identifies the user’s service contract by simply connecting the charging cable between the vehicle and the terminal, with a high level of security and a simplified user experience. It therefore avoids the need for multiple badges: “you plug in the cable.. and the charging process starts automatically”.
  • Smart charging: this solution enables to program a recharging schedule that is negotiated between the terminal and the vehicle and optimised according to their technical constraints, the needs and requirements of the driver and the network electrical constraints.

Plug & charge preconditions :

  • a service contract installed in the electric vehicle
  • an electric vehicle and a PnC-compatible terminal
  • interoperability so that any vehicle can be recharged at any charging station

 

Discover the main partners of the initiative:

  • PFA (Plateforme Française de l’Automobile)
  • AFIREV (Association Française pour l’Itinérance de la Recharge Electrique)
  • AVERE (Association nationale pour le développement de la mobilité électrique)
  • VEDECOM Institute (research and innovation on the mobilities of the future),

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VEDECOM is attending EVS32, the leading international scientific conference on vehicle electrification

France prepares to introduce New-Generation Electric Mobility

The main electric mobility players are joining forces to plan and co-ordinate the roll-out of a charging infrastructure for new-generation electric vehicles. It will consist of terminals and information systems adopting the ISO 15118 standard. The end result will be a simplified user experience, improved energy management and greater assurance of system interoperability and security, improving user confidence in charging. All players in the sector will be involved: vehicle and charging station manufacturers, charging infrastructure operators, mobility service providers and electricity suppliers and distributors. The Committee behind this initiative will enable French players to improve their R&D and innovation capability and to give France a presence on the European stage.

A consortium built on new-generation charging technology in France

In a memorandum of understanding signed on 7 June, AFIREV (the French association for electrical vehicle charging roaming)AVERE (the French association for the development of electric mobility, the PFA (Automobile Platform) and the VEDECOM Energy Transition Institute united to form an Initiative Committee for New-Generation Charging, intended to involve the entire French ecosystem. This consortium will also be responsible for implementing technical decisions relating to the ISO 15118 standard at European level, particularly with regard to cybersecurity (PKI).

The French automotive industry supports all the specific measures to give a real acceleration of the deployment of charging infrastructure in France, offer a charging solution to each user and give confidence to future buyers of electric vehicles, says Jean-Luc Brossard, R&D Director of the PFA. These measures must focus as a priority on road charging solutions, in collective housing and on major highways of the national network.

As part of the car recovery plan announced on May 26, the desire to support the ambition of one million electric or rechargeable hybrid vehicles rolling by 2022 is declined in a first objective of 100,000 charge points public by the end of 2021. The future charging infrastructure will have to be homogeneous, interoperable, intelligent, capable of simplifying the user experience and providing services with high added value.”

The role of this Committee is to implement collaborative measures in two stages: firstly, to define the appropriate cybersecurity architecture (PKI) for the new standard, thento support the rollout of Plug and Charge (PnC) and of the  “Smart Charging” system.

AFIREV Chairman Gilles Bernard explains: “Today, it is essential for us to work together so that we can move to this new stage in the deployment of charging infrastructure and develop a unified approach across Europe. An initial group of around fifteen players will come together around 2020, being further strengthened in 2021-22 by all players in the sector.”

The Committee has mandated VEDECOM, as a research institute which already has a strong involvement in future recharging work, to provide technical and economic co-ordination and implement these initiatives.

From left to right, 1rst row : Claude Renard (EV Charging Infrastructure Deployment Coordinator, DGEC, French Ministry of Transition Ecologique et Solidaire), Gilles Bernard (AFIREV Chairman), Tony Jaux (Chairman of the Board of VEDECOM), Joseph Beretta (AVERE Chairman), Jean-Luc Brossard (R&D Director PFA) ;
2d rang : Mourad Tiguercha (Concentus consultant for VEDECOM), Joe Matta (VEDECOM Project Manager New-Generation Electric Mobility), Nicolas Leclère (PSA Group, CSTA 2 Group Leader for the PFA), Prof. Féthi Ben Ouezdou (VEDECOM Scientific Director), Roch El Khoury (VEDECOM Electrification Domain Director).

 

Rolling out a smart, interoperable charging infrastructure

For France, the Committee’s ultimate goal is to create conditions favourable to the introduction of new energy services, ensuring that all new alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) charging points installed in France can be interoperably ISO 15118 compatible and that Charge Point Operators (CPOs) and Electric Mobility Service Providers (eMSPs) can supply Plug and Charge (PnC) and Smart Charging services.

To achieve this goal, this project will specify the technical requirements for the deployment of PnC and Smart Charging, based on international standards.

In the words of AVERE Chairman Joseph Berreta, “the electric mobility ecosystem is now reaching an important stage in its development. To reach maturity, the market must be able to roll out new charging services that will improve and simplify the user experience while improving the integration of electric mobility into the electrical system.

These major developments require the deployment of coherent public policies which include support programmes.

In addition to its considerable enhancement of communication between an electric vehicle and a charging infrastructure, the ISO 15118 standard provides drivers with new services:

  • Plug and Charge (PnC), which automatically identifies the user’s service contract simply by connecting the charging cable between the vehicle and the charging point, with a high level of electronic security and a simplified user experience;
  • Smart Charging, whereby a charging schedule can be negotiated between the charging point and the vehicle, optimised according to their technical constraints, the driver’s needs and requirements, pricing constraints and the networks’ electrical constraints;

A new, simple, innovative and secure protocol which supports future innovations

Today, a pass card is generally needed for charging. In future, regardless of the vehicle, charging infrastructure operator or electricity supplier, Smart Charging will work independently of this system, providing quick, fluid and secure operation.

VEDECOM Director General Philippe Watteau believes that “we are ready: the charging point-to-vehicle communication process using ISO 15118 works, and is backed by most of our European partners. The new generation of charging infrastructure brings major challenges in terms of authentication, security and trust, but also of deployment and interoperability. We are going to address these issues incrementally, drawing on the existing infrastructure. However, we have yet to jointly specify and promote the best PKI infrastructure. In a second phase, we will be able to build on this work and innovate disruptively,” he adds.

That’s because the Initiative Committee for New-Generation Charging’s second objective is to facilitate the future deployment of emerging use cases, including:

  • bidirectional charging, which uses the charging infrastructure to negotiate and optimise the reinjection of electricity stored in the battery to the house (vehicle-to-home), the building (vehicle-to-building) or the electricity network (vehicle-to-grid);
  • cable-free charging (inductive or automated charging).

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