Establish Secure CAN Communication for Your Electric Vehicle Charging Systems

An electric vehicle charging station, also known as electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), is a device that recharges the batteries of electric vehicles (EVs). With the increasing number of EVs on the roads, the expansion of EV charging stations is essential. There are typically two types of EV charging stations: standalone and networked charging stations. Standalone EV charging stations operate independently without a network connection, while networked charging stations are connected to a charging network. Among the two, networked charging stations offer more advantages. Connecting multiple EV charging stations allows for the creation of an EV charging system that enables operators to conveniently and remotely manage energy consumption through application platforms. These systems can efficiently gather information on charging status and energy use from each EV, providing billing details to EV owners based on the quantity of power supplied to their EVs and when it occurred. Furthermore, EV charging systems communicate with the grid and an energy storage system (ESS) to enhance the stability and reliability of power distribution from the ESS to EV charging stations. For instance, in times of sudden peak demand on the grid, EV charging systems inform the ESS, enabling the utilization of the stored energy in energy storage batteries.

To maximize the benefits of your EV charging systems, establishing reliable communication between EV charging stations is crucial. This article will explore the communication obstacles in deploying EV charging systems and propose solutions to facilitate secure communication.

Challenges in Communication for EV Charging Systems

Efficient and dependable communication is vital for EV charging systems to collect data necessary for optimizing EV charging efficiency. When an EV is connected to a charging station, the EV charging station, the grid, and the ESS exchange information such as the battery charging status, electricity capacity, and energy consumption via a wireless or wired network. This information is transmitted to the control center for analysis, aiding operators in determining the precise amount of power required at any given time to meet charging demands.

Enabling connectivity for your EV charging systems is a prerequisite for reliable communication. Operators encounter two primary communication challenges when establishing secure connectivity for their EV charging systems.

Limitations in CAN Communication Protocol Transmission

The automotive industry employs the CAN bus as its communication bus, with internal batteries using CAN bus as well. Since numerous EVs and EV charging stations communicate through CAN, your EV charging systems must be capable of connecting to CAN devices utilized in EV charging stations. However, baudrates restrict the transmission range of a CAN system as defined in the ISO 11898 standard. A higher baudrate results in a shorter maximum transmission distance. Essentially, the maximum transmission distance for a given baudrate in a CAN system cannot be extended. To overcome this distance limitation and enhance the flexibility of deploying your EV charging stations, you require a networking solution that can address this challenge and deliver the expected baudrates over extended communication distances.

Selecting Suitable Communication Interfaces

In situations where EV charging stations managed by the same operators are situated far apart, establishing connectivity between them can be challenging. Deploying EV charging stations separately in different locations, such as between buildings or in suburban areas, necessitates a networking solution capable of long-distance connections. While some EV charging stations utilize wireless connections to share or transmit battery/electricity data, reducing the costs associated with wiring deployment, signal coverage through wireless means may fall short of expectations due to environmental constraints, leading many EV charger manufacturers and system integrators to opt for wired data connections for enhanced reliability and user experience. To establish reliable wired connections, fiber optic cables are preferred over copper wires to provide isolation, safeguard against electromagnetic interferences, and transmit data across longer distances.

Secure CAN-to-fiber Solutions

Our ICF-1171I CAN-to-fiber converters aid in establishing secure communication for your EV charging systems by overcoming the limitations of CAN bus communication. These converters can transmit up to 1 Mbps in CAN interfaces and up to 5 Mbps in CAN FD interfaces, extending communication distances up to 40 km. Given that networking devices are typically placed in space-constrained enclosures in outdoor environments, our compact CAN-to-fiber converters feature 2 kV isolation, 2 kV surge protection for the CAN port, and a wide temperature range of -40 to 75°C to withstand harsh communication environments.

Connecting numerous EV charging stations to your control center often requires multiple CAN-to-fiber converters to facilitate long-distance communication. To simplify configurations across multiple devices, our CAN-to-fiber converters offer a DIP switch for easy switching between CAN and CAN FD interfaces. Additionally, the CAN-to-fiber converters feature an auto baudrate setting function for the CAN interface, eliminating the need for manual configurations. In the event of a communication error, LED indicators can be utilized to promptly identify whether the error occurred in the CAN or fiber connection.

As a leading provider of connectivity solutions, we offer a 5-year warranty on our CAN-to-fiber converters to ensure that our products meet your quality standards. For more information, visit our product page. If you are seeking additional solutions for enabling serial connectivity, we are dedicated to developing a range of serial connectivity solutions to assist our customers in establishing connectivity for serial devices over the coming decades. Explore our offerings on our microsite to learn more.