LamA-connect – Vehicle charging without network bottlenecks
LamA-connect is a project to develop smart, security-compliant control and billing concepts for vehicle charging infrastructures. A consortium of 12 partners, including PPC, collaborated. The objective was to find a solution that complies with the regulations covering charging, control and billing of charging operations, using smart meter gateways.
Further development addressed standards set by the BSI (German Federal office for Information Security) for digitalising the control, billing and management of loading operations in distribution networks.
Funded project
LamA-connect has been funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) for almost three years. It should show that charging infrastructure with high security standards can be controlled and monitored using smart meter gateways. The project also focuses on cooperation with the funding agency and the involvement of all relevant actors at the federal level. From 2022, the coordination platform with smart meter gateways should be the standard solution for integrating charging station infrastructure into the smart grid in Germany.
The challenges
How can a highly-secure charging infrastructure be controlled and monitored across the board? How can billing be achieved seamlessly, legally, and in compliance with the regulations? These issues are currently among the most pressing in the field of energy and e-mobility.
LamA-connect developed a coordination platform, based on smart meter gateway data, that considers both the conditions of the energy network and the needs of electric vehicle users, while keeping an eye on secure operations and the legal framework.
The team started with the model “loading at work”, then extended the scope to typical charging scenarios such as “loading in a residential space” and “loading in a public car park”. Laboratory tests completed the project. The result is the first metering and billing solution to comply with the regulations and guidelines for Smart Mobility, as defined by the German BMWi and BSI.
Role of PPC
PPC’s Smart Meter Gateway played the important role of encrypting data communication and providing the data relevant for billing. Secure allocation of data was essential. Unlike a metering system in the household, where there is clear assignment of the billing data to the consumer, a public charging station is used by several, independent users, and each must be correctly billed for the energy they have used.
In addition, PPC worked on the design and implementation of a secure control option for charging stations, via a Controllable Local Systems (CLS) interface, in order to make a high level of IT security available to power grid operators and other relevant parties.
With the development of a standard metering infrastructure for e-mobility in Germany, LamA-connect lays the groundwork for faster implementation of charging infrastructures.
Project partners
- Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO
- Badenova AG & Co. KG mit bnNETZE GmbH
- Becker Büttner Held PartGmbB
- Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE
- Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology
- Institute of Human Factors and Technology Management at the University of Stuttgart
- PBW parking company Baden-Württemberg mbH
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (National Metrology Institute of Germany)
- Power Plus Communications AG
- VDE Association of Electrical Engineering Electronics Information Technology Division DKE German Commission
- Electrical engineering, electronics, information technology in DIN and VDE
- Stuttgart Netze Betrieb GmbH (associated partner)
