Universal Plug-and-Charge for EV Charging Stations Set to Launch in 2025

Filling a gas car, you usually just need a credit card or cash. To charge an EV at a DC fast-charging station, you need any number of things to work with—a credit card reader, an app for that charger network, a working touchscreen—and they’re all slightly different.

That situation could change next year if a new “Plug and Charge” program from SAE International, a group of EV car and charger manufacturers, moves forward and gains traction. Starting as early as 2025, the network could make charging an EV easier than gassing up: Plug in, let the car and charger receive payment information via a cloud connection, and off you go.

Some car and charging network combinations already offer such a system through a patchwork of individual deals, as listed on Inside EVs. Teslas have always offered a plug-and-charge experience, given the tight integration between their Superchargers and vehicles. Now Tesla will join the plug-and-charge movement as a matter of course, allowing Teslas to have an almost identical experience at other stations.

The Electric Vehicle Public Key Infrastructure, or EVPKI, has a good number of major players on board, and builds on the ISO (15118) standard to make it faster and more secure for vehicles to be authorized and authorized to charge at stations. A number of certificates are in place at every step of the charging process, as explained in the EVPKI introduction, and the system includes a Certified Trust List. With an open standard and certification, there should be room for new charging networks and car manufacturers.

Charging networks can and likely will continue to offer incentives for brand loyalty, whether through apps or rewards points. But new EV owners won’t have to do so much work to get “good” while on the road.

By connecting cars to key-based authentication systems, there is also the possibility that the system will also drive vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging, where large car batteries can be used to balance regional power and charge. make the grid stronger.

“We are rapidly approaching a future where every EV driver can simply plug in, charge, and go; the network will talk to your vehicle and process the payment seamlessly,” said Gabe Klein, executive director of the Joint Energy and Transportation Office, in a statement. “This is an important step in the architecture that enables dual charging and the integration of the vehicle with the real grid, the holy grail of energy and transportation.” The Joint Office is a collaboration between the Departments of Energy and Transportation.

The EV Hummer-sized elephant in the room is how the Trump administration, with its opposition to the EV policies of the Biden administration, could affect the program. Klein told The Verge that, with the buyout activity and the actual work being done by automakers and the industry — including Tesla led by Elon Musk — “the ship has sailed, if you will.”

This story appeared first Ars Technica.