LegalEVcharge: Practical legal metrology framework for electric vehicle charging stations

LegalEVcharge

In order to prepare the technical infrastructure for a legal metrology framework for electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS), a number of metrology institutes from different European countries set up the joined project LegalEVcharge.

The project result will be a consistent and practical metrology framework for AC and DC electric vehicle charging stations. The framework will cover requirements for the making available on the market and the putting into use as well as for maintaining stability of measurement. It will be suitable for the protection of the consumers and fair trading, and respect the principle of proportionality.

The resulting documents will be compliant with the European Directive 2014/32/EU (MID) as far as the meter itself is concerned and structured according to their normative density to allow for easy transposition into national law, harmonised as far as possible to avoid technical barriers to trade.

To make sure these documents are practical and pragmatic, systems for laboratory and on-site verification will be set up and tested.

This project is registered as EURAMET TCEM project no. 1539

Participating Institutes: Partners
Country Organisation Contact e-mail
Austria BEV  
Hungary BFKH  
Ireland NSAI  
Montenegro MBM  

Norway

JV hma@justervesenet.no
Portugal IPQ  
Slovenia MIRS  
Spain CEM  
Sweden RISE  
Switerland METAS evcs@metas.ch
Turkey TUBITAK UME    
Participating Institutes: Observers
Country Organisation Contact e-mail
Netherlands Agentschap Telecom  
       

Project co-ordination

The project is co-ordinated by METAS. 

Contact e-mail: legalEVcharge@metas.ch

 

Questionnaire

One important aim of the project is to practical and pragmatic framework. Therefore, we sent a questionnaire to
-  manufacturers of meters and EVCS,
-  charge point operators,
-  national metrology institutes and other governmental organisations
    as well as
-  standardisation organisations.

Provisional standard for DC active electrical energy meters

While the Directive 2014/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making available on the market of measuring instruments (recast) (MID) harmonises the requirements for active electrical energy meters without distinction between AC or DC, at present, no standard gives presumption of conformity with MID for DC active electrical energy meters. The European Commission issued the mandate M/541 requesting the European standardisation organisations on 15 December 2015 to prepare such a standard by 31 December 2017. For practical reasons, it is necessary to define a set of detailed technical specifications satisfying the performance requirements of MID.

The consortia of LegalEVcharge and NordCharge prepared the document below as a temporary solution providing guidance to the industry until such a standard is available and gives presumption of conformity with MID.

Analysis of the legal framework and guidance

The consortium analysed the existing legal metrology framework built on the foundation provided by MID, the European directive on measuring instruments, which is perfectly suitable for active electrical energy meters used in EVCS, regardless of whether AC or DC is used. It identified key points for non-harmonised implementing metrology legislation and gives further guidance for conformity assessment bodies, manufacturers and owners of EVCS.

The guiding principle is the principle of proportionality. State activities must be conducted in the public interest and be proportionate to the ends sought. They must be necessary, suitable and proportional. In consequence, legal metrology requirements must be as light as possible provided they achieve the intended goal. This goal has been to maintain all concerned parties' trust in the correctness of the measurement for centuries.

Guidance on practical aspects is intended to help manufacturers and users – owners – to set up a practical system that respects the legal metrology requirements in a way that is cost effective in the long-term.

The consortium prepared the document below in co-operation with the NordCharge group.

Figure: The active electrical energy meter as legal metrology core of EVCS. Trust can be assured even without conformity assessment of the other parts of the system.

Last modification 09.10.2023

Top of page

https://www.metas.ch/content/metas/en/home/gesmw/messmittel/legalevcharge.html