Please tell us about the charging simulator developed by Applus IDIADA…
IDIADA’s EV charging simulator is an in-house developed validation tester for all types of charging stations including AC and DC. It enables testers to manipulate the communication between the charging station and the EV/ PHEV. Message content and message integrity can be manipulated, but also key parameters of the high voltage lines like voltage level or closing/ opening of relays can be tricked in order to validate the conformance with current charging standards such as IEC61851, DIN70121 or ISO/IEC15118.
Why did you decide to develop this revolutionary system?
After doing some interoperability tests with vehicles for EV OEMs we learned that this kind of HIL tester for charging stations and EVs in terms of the charging interfaces would be very useful to customers.
How does it work?
The simulator works with a 160kW battery simulator serving as a power sink for DC charging. This simulates the charging interface of an electric vehicle in terms of communication but also as a power sink. It can simulate an AC mode 3 charging process but is also capable of simulating DC fast charging with both common charging plugs: CCS (also called Combo, used mainly by the German OEMs) and CHAdeMO (used mainly by Nissan and Mitsubishi). An upgrade for the Chinese GB/T standard is in progress.
What are its benefits?
The extremely user friendly HMI enables users to edit and execute test cases or combine them into a batch of test cases. As with any HIL tool, the main advantage of the system is repeatability and the ability to create test cases that cannot be performed on a vehicle due to safety reasons or other circumstances.
A stress test of a charging station reveals non-conformance with the ruling standards and thus helps engineers to find potential compatibility and safety problems. Also, it enables a DC charging station manufacturer to test with voltage levels which cannot be tested with current vehicles, and finally to validate and certify charging stations. IDIADA is the only European laboratory to certify CHAdeMO charging stations thanks to our simulator.