Olivier Orfila has been appointed Scientific Director and Director of Development and Training at ITE VEDECOM. An engineer from ISAT (Institut Supérieur de l’Automobile et des Transports), he has a doctorate and is qualified to direct research at the University of Evry Paris Saclay. He has developed a multidisciplinary vision of mobility and its challenges.
Oliver Orfila was previously deputy director of the LIVIC (autonomous vehicle) laboratory from 2015 to 2020 and then PICS-L (mobility from a multidisciplinary perspective) from 2020 to 2022 at the Gustave Eiffel University, in laboratories located near the mobiLAB in Versailles.
He joined VEDECOM on 21 March 2022, and according to him, his three new functions – science, development and training – form a “virtuous triptych” that he particularly likes.
An interdisciplinary vision to support the energy transition
Convinced of the relevance of cross-fertilisation of disciplines from the very first phases of conception and definition of research questions, he co-directed the development of the LIVIC and PICS-L scientific projects. His work focused on the problems of vehicle energy consumption, the automation of functions to limit it and the understanding of eco-responsible driver behaviour.
Entrepreneurship and training as a result of research
As an entrepreneur, in 2008 he created a start-up company offering driver monitoring in natural conditions for the insurance sector. He also supported the emergence of the Stanley Robotics startup in the valet parking sector.
Lastly, passionate about transmitting knowledge and much appreciated by his students, he is involved in several courses: either with academic partners such as the University of Evry Paris Saclay, or ENSTA and IFPSchool, or with professionals such as Renault Group.
Knowledge of the challenges of mobility on an international scale
Internationally, he has been the scientific leader of numerous European research projects such as ecoDriver, GamECAR and Trustonomy. He has been a laureate of two Hubert Curien Partnerships with Australia and China where he was an associate professor at Tongji University in Shanghai from 2016 to 2022. Finally, he was an expert for ACEA (The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association) on the subject of CO2 emissions reduction and an expert for the Ministry of Ecology on driving automation in China.
“I have found a dynamic and very professional teams at VEDECOM. They know how to take into account environmental issues and the final needs of the market and users. In the coming months, our objective is to co-construct answers to these new mobility needs, to accelerate the transfer of research results to the industrial world”.
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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