EVs: The software integration challenge

While there appears to be an on-going political debate over whether we do or don’t ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030, a big concern putting people off electrical vehicle (EV) ownership is charging. And besides physical infrastructure, charging is very much a software challenge.

Since technology is evolving quickly and the car industry’s understanding of EVs and battery longevity has improved dramatically, amongst the areas that doesn’t get discussed is all the clever stuff that needs to work in sync to get an EV to plug in and accept electrical power from an EV charger.

Beyond the physical stuff like plugs, cables and the obvious need for grid connectivity, software systems from car and charger manufacturers need to work seamlessly. And as is inevitably the case, the complexity of the ecosystem means it will never work as well as planned.

The problem is that while there are clear standards for the hardware and software protocols that specify how an EV communicates with the charger, these do not cover every possible use case. One of these – and it is certainly not an edge use case – is smart charging, which is key to the UK’s net zero commitment. Smart charging relies on the EV charger communicating directly with the customer’s energy provider, to deliver the charge when the grid is greenest and there’s the least demand.

But the EV is an incredibly powerful PC on wheels that has numerous smart systems, one of which conveniently puts the car to sleep, when it is not in use. It does so to avoid draining the teeny 12v auxiliary battery that keeps things like central locking and the car alarm running. Surprise, surprise, when the car’s asleep, it doesn’t accept a charge.

Some manufacturers go further, protecting the 12v battery by disabling charging, unless electrical juice is actually going into the car. Apart from the software handshake that says the charger cable has been plugged in, no electricity flows when smart charging until the scheduled charge time. And that time is controlled by the energy provider, not the car manufacturer.

What we see is software design decisions that were done for good reason but impact customers directly – both in terms of the ease with which they charge, and their wallets – because smart charging tends to be cheaper.

Is there a better way? The PC industry shows how a vast and complex ecosystem can work pretty well. Look at the modern PC and the plethroa of compatible software and peripherals. It’s not about having the same operating system, but having a standard BIOS (basic input/output system), that every manufacturer adheres to. This is what EVs are missing.