The New Standard for Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) - Part II

18 Dec 2012

Following the much-anticipated revision of SAE J1772, the new North American safety standard for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and electric vehicle (EV) conductive charge couplers in October 2012...

Following the much-anticipated revision of SAE J1772, the new North American safety standard for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and electric vehicle (EV) conductive charge couplers in October 2012, manufacturers from around the world are working hand-in-hand with  vehicle test engineers to greet the growing demand for innovative EV technology. To this point, the below outlines a customizable testing regiment for your application:

Primary EVSE standards for both AC and DC circuits include:

• UL Subject 2594: Covers the AC pass-through circuit
• UL 2202: Covers the DC Charger circuit
• UL 2231-1, 2231-2: Covers the CCID circuits, and may be separate devices for each AC and DC output circuit

Fortunately for existing listed AC charge stations, the new standard is backward compatible, meaning that there are no changes needed to comply with the latest SAE standard if the equipment is already using the J1772 AC connector. However, existing listed DC charge stations (CHAdeMO or other) do require additional testing to verify continued compliance per the following:

• If greater than 80AMP/40kW: Change to new Combo connector: UL-2251
• If less than 80AMP/40kW: Change to the Standard J1772 connector: UL-2251

Additional requirements for existing DC charge stations include an update to the control software, necessitating a change from CAN interface to PLC communication, with the potential for testing to UL 1998. Similarly, manufacturers need to update their existing UL-2202 certification to include the alternate new-format connector.

Specifically regarding new Combo Systems, control and power circuits must be evaluated to a combination of UL-2202 and UL-Subject-2594, while both AC and DC CCID circuits alike must be evaluated to UL-2231-1/-2. However:

• If DC Level 1: Can maintain the standard J1772 connector: UL-2251
• If DC Level 2: Use the new Combo connector: UL-2251

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