CharIN presents official logo for Plug&Charge (ISO 15118)

The CCS initiative CharIN has presented the official logo of Plug&Charge to identify the charging points equipped offering this function at a glance. However, charging point operators (CPO) and car manufacturers can freely display the logo or not.

“The logo is open to all companies that implement and validate this function in their products in accordance with ISO 15118-2 or ISO 15118-20,” says CharIN. The initiative presented the logo at its CharIN test festival in Zielona Gora, Poland. It charged a VW ID.4 on stage at a charge pole of the Polish manufacturer Ekoenergetyka, bearing the new logo.

The logo on the charging pole shall enable CPOs to give “the customer adequate visibility of the functionality”. But manufacturers can also place the logo on cars that support Plug&Charge. Alpitronic, Aral Pulse, Dekra, Delta, dSpace, Ekoenergetyka, Electrify America, Hubject, Hyundai, Ionity, the National Charging Infrastructure Control Centre, Scania, Tritium, VW and Volvo, among others, have already agreed to signify their equipment, said CharIN.

Plug&Charge enables automated communication and billing processes between an electric vehicle and charging station without RFID cards, credit/debit cards or charging apps while maintaining high data security. It also enables automatic authentication and authorisation at each charging station “so that the customer can experience a seamless and simple charging process”, CharIn points out.

The challenge was that Plug&Charge is not limited to a specific charging station or model. Customers, therefore, cannot simply see whether plugging in the cable is enough to start the charging process – or whether a charging card, app or credit card is needed. For example, both Aral Pulse and EnBW use the Hypercharger from Alpitronic. At Aral Pulse, Plug& Charge is now implemented at all locations, while EnBW relies on the technically simpler (and, from CharIN’s point of view, less secure) AutoCharge solution. The Plug&Charge logo is meant to offer increased usability and orientation.

charin.global, youtube.com (logo launch)