LEM’s DCBM 400/600 billing meter for France EV charging market

Europe is powering ahead with developing extensive and reliable public infrastructures for charging electric vehicles, which is vital if the automotive sector is to achieve the desired transition away from the internal combustion engine. To underline this, France has just passed the threshold of 100,000 public EV charging stations.

Fair and transparent

One of the key prerequisites that will encourage the take-up of EVs, in general, is the ability to carry out rapid charging at public points. To boost acceptance of this new technology, it has been recognised by the industry that the best way to ensure EV users have a fair and transparent experience is to offer them billing based on energy usage (kWh). The DCBM 400/600 DC billing meter has been designed with this in mind, facilitating the integration of kWh billing into the EV market and so accelerating the time to market for manufacturers of rapid charging stations.

For the transport sector to ensure the effective deployment of a DC fast charging infrastructure, several factors need to be in place – the speedy installation of power electronic systems (the DC chargers themselves), a fresh approach to electric grid capacities across the country, and strict standards that the technology must comply with.

These standards have been created to ensure energy metering is delivered in an accurate, reliable and verified way and in Europe they are managed by the Measuring Instrument Directive (MID) in conjunction with national regulations that operate in Germany and France. The specific regulation for DC metering in France (décision n°22.00.570.001.1 of 1^st March 2022) underlines the importance of accurate energy measurement in the EV sector.

Authentic billing

Ideal for retrofit and new DC rapid charging stations from 25kW to 400 kW, the DCBM 400/600 uses industry-standard data protocols to ensure secure communication, authentic billing, easy connectivity to Cloud services and a faster certification process in compliance with metrology regulations.

With an LCD display that shows real-time measurements, energy, alarms and legal data, the billing meter’s open charge metering format (OCMF) readouts are compliant with the S.A.F.E initiative. Featuring ‘plug-and-play’ software integration for smoother connectivity, easy connection with busbars or cables, a split module design for greater flexibility and a ruggedised IP20-rated mechanical design, the 400/600 has an operational range of 150V to 1000V DC and class B accuracy from -40°C to +85°C.

Says Florent Balboni, LEM Global Product Manager for energy metering solutions: “Fairness and transparency through kWh-based billing are essential for greater technology acceptance in the EV rapid charging station sector. Benefiting from LEM’s 50 years of experience in current sensing and measurement, this smart and compact DC billing meter provides real-time data that is vital if users are to have full confidence in the fairness of their kWh-based charging experience. It is a significant milestone in the successful deployment of a national EV charging infrastructure across France that the DCBM 400/600 is the first DC billing meter to be certified in this market by LNE.”