Companies plug in to smart electric vehicle charging

These are two technologies which together provide key software building blocks to automotive suppliers creating Electronic Control Units (ECUs) that allow for smart charging of electric vehicles.

Smart charging, which includes transmission of data via charging cables, allows for secure payments at the burgeoning network of for-pay public charging stations around the world. Telemotive has long been a leader in the space, providing a software stack supporting error-free communication between a charging column and vehicle. The modular software, compliant with the international standard governing communication between plug-in vehicles and electrical supply equipment (ISO 15118), can be integrated into every relevant ECU.

Mentor’s Volcano VSTAR stack includes platform and communication middleware, an operating system, design/validation tools, and more. It is a solution for designing ECUs according to the AUTOSAR methodology, which has been recognised worldwide for more than a decade as the standard for the development of electronic systems. The integrated Mentor-Telemotive stack can be implemented on nearly any microcontroller serving as the brains of a smart-charging system, whether developed by a Tier One supplier or OEM.

“These highly synergistic Mentor and Telemotive technologies are well-suited to help engineers quickly develop highly advanced automotive smart charging solutions,” said Franz Diller, Board Member of Telemotive AG. “Telemotive is pleased to collaborate with Mentor, and we look forward to seeing our shared customers differentiate and win in the fast-growing smart charging market.”

The integrated stack enables easy connection to a PLC transceiver serving as the gateway to internet-based services supporting payments, and perhaps eventually to applications such as the dynamic negotiation of charging plans in the context of evolving environmental or user conditions.

“Electrification of the powertrain is one of the major trends impacting the auto industry, and is also tightly linked to other disruptors like autonomous driving and vehicle/cloud connectivity,” said Rainer Oder, General Manager of Mentor Graphics’ Automotive Business Unit. “These trends are, in turn, driving increased focus on smart charging and other PLC-enabled services, which present new engineering challenges for both established and emerging auto industry players. Telemotive AG shares Mentor’s goal of providing system engineering expertise to meet these challenges, even as development cycles are dramatically condensed.