Experimental set-up of DC PEV charging station supported by open and interoperable communication technologies

This paper is focused on a laboratory smart power architecture designed to experiment fast charging and V2G operations for road electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The analysed power configuration is based on a DC bus architecture, which presents the main advantage of an easy integration of renewable energy sources and buffered storage systems. The energy management of this system is supported by open and interoperable communication technologies, which adopts Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) as network communication and application protocol. This allows the PEV charge point to exchange data and commands with any central management system over the Internet with the goal of ensuring truly interoperability and scalability. Furthermore, both short- and long-range wireless communication technologies are supported, which facilitates easy integration into existing communication infrastructures.