Software République’s smart, secure charging station for EVs

Currently, nearly 80% of electric and plug-in hybrid car owners choose to charge their vehicle at home, at work, in an apartment building or in a private parking lot. As the EV market grows rapidly, convenient access to charging has become a priority. In Europe, IHS Markit forecasts that the cumulative deployment of EV charging stations will increase at 24% CAGR during the 2020-30 periodi.

The ‘Mobilise Powerbox ii’ from Software République is an innovative technology demonstrator addressing several key objectives in Europe to:

• Facilitate access to recharging for all users of EVs.
• Contribute to the intelligent management of electricity networks.
• Provide a solution to the cybersecurity risks in the integration of EV charging networks.
• Strengthen the industrial and technological sovereignty of this new market segment.

The charging station, with a power range of 7 to 22kW, integrates the expertise of:

• Orange in 4G telecommunications and related services.
• Renault Group in the architecture of Electric Vehicle charging systems.
• STMicroelectronics in semiconductors, with its microprocessor and communication coprocessor ensuring an interoperable solution capable of providing intelligent charging services, especially bidirectional V2G (vehicle-to-grid) charging.
• Thales cybersecurity and data protection – thanks to Thales' secure access and credential management system, which is fully compliant with interoperability standards.

The project members also teamed with other technology partners for their expertise, including IoTecha Corp, for the electronic design of the charging station, and LACROIX for its manufacture at Symbiose, the company’s electronics assembly factory of the future in France.

In collaboration with Mobilise – the Renault Group brand dedicated to new mobility – the products of the ‘Mobilise Powerbox’ range will be marketed in 2023. The bidirectional version will allow the storage capacity of a vehicle's Li-ion battery to be used as an energy source.

Without impacting the autonomy required for mobility and with complete simplicity, the system will make it possible to control the flow of energy, to improve the rate of use of renewable energy and to support the electricity network by re-injecting energy into it when needed: a scalable, adaptive charging station that can transform a vehicle into a model power plant.

Fifty thousand systems of this type (vehicle and charging station) combined produce the equivalent of a power plant and can thus supplement fossil fuel production. Thus, each owner of the ‘Mobilize Powerbox’ V2G charging station connected to an EV becomes an actor of the ecological transition.

With the ‘Mobilise Powerbox’, Software République wishes to democratise bidirectional charging functionality and contribute to intelligent energy management. The charging station will be on display at the Mobilise booth (Hall 6) on the media day, 17 October 2022, and will be presented by the Software République team.