Table of Contents
Part 1: Essential Lessons for the Future of GlobalEV charger: PnC (Plug & Charge) +V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid Interaction)
Part 2: Say Goodbye to Slow QR Code Scanning! Plug & Charge: The Future of Charging—Just Plug It In and Charge
Part 3: ISO 15118-2 Illustrated Guide to the Entire Charging Process: From Communication Handshake to Contact Detection—All Explained in One Article
Part 4: Earn Money Just by Parking: V2G—How to Turn Electric Vehicles into the Power Grid’s “Mobile Power Reserves”
Part 5: One Car = One Power Station? ISO 15118-20: Turning V2G from Concept to Reality
I. ISO 15118-20: The “Qualitative Leap” in Next-Generation Protocols
If ISO 15118-2 represents the first-generation language that enables electric vehicles and charging infrastructure to “communicate” with each other, then ISO 15118-20 represents a complete overhaul of that language—achieving a quantum leap in vocabulary, grammatical structure, and expressive capabilities.
1.1 Background and Purpose of Publication
ISO/PAS 15118-202:2025, published in September 2025, defines the Extensible SECC Discovery Protocol (ESDP) and the Event Notification Protocol (ENP) as enhancements to existing communication protocols. These protocols make digital charging communications more robust and enable better diagnosis of fault causes.
1.2 Modular Message Architecture
In the message sequence design of ISO 15118-2, messages for AC and DC charging processes were highly coupled, limiting scalability. ISO 15118-20 underwent a fundamental architectural redesign and adopted a modular message architecture:
● Common Core Message Set: Covers all basic processes shared across all transmission modes, such as session establishment, authentication, authorization, and service discovery
● Mode-Specific Extensions: Each energy transmission mode has an independent subset of messages that can evolve independently
1.3 Transport Layer Decoupling
ISO 15118-20 achieves transport layer decoupling; protocol messages are no longer bound to specific physical transmission media and support multiple underlying communication technologies:
● PLC — Backward compatible; remains the foundational transmission method
● Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) — High bandwidth, low latency; suitable for high-power charging scenarios
● Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) — Suitable for auxiliary communication in wireless charging scenarios
● 5G / Cellular Networks — Future-proof remote communication and real-time grid coordination
Transport-layer decoupling means that the same set of application-layer protocols can run over different physical networks, clearing communication barriers for innovative scenarios such as wireless charging, autonomous vehicle charging, and remote V2G scheduling.
II. Global Regulatory Landscape: From “Recommendation” to “Mandate”
The true power of a technical standard lies not only in what it stipulates, but also in who requires you to comply with it.ISO 15118 It is undergoing a critical shift from “industry-recommended adoption” to “regulatory enforcement.”
2.1 European Union: Mandatory Implementation of the AFIR Regulation
The key timeline is as follows:
● Starting in October 2025: All new or retrofitted public charging facilities must support the ISO 15118-1 through ISO 15118-5 series of standards
● Effective January 1, 2027: All new or retrofitted public charging facilities, as well as new private charging facilities, must support the ISO 15118-20:2022 standard
● Public charging facilities offering Plug & Charge functionality must support both ISO 15118-2 and ISO 15118-20
● Smart charging and bidirectional charging capabilities (at least on the communication side) are no longer optional
2.2 United States: The $7.5 Billion Boost from the NEVI Program
2.3 China: Alignment with International Standards and Localization
III. Industry Implementation: Who Is “Using” ISO 15118?
The value of a standard is ultimately reflected in its implementation. From automakers to charging equipment manufacturers, and from PKI trust service providers to interoperability certification bodies, the ISO 15118 industry ecosystem is rapidly taking shape.
3.1 Current Deployment Status Among Automakers (OEMs)
3.2 Follow-up by Charging Equipment Manufacturers and Operators
3.3 CharIN’s Interoperability Certification
IV. Five Major Future Trends: The “Next Stop” for ISO 15118
4.1 V2G at Scale: Electric Vehicles Become “Mobile Power Stations”
The AC BPT and DC BPT modes natively defined in ISO 15118-20 provide a comprehensive protocol foundation for Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) and Vehicle-to-Building (V2H/V2B) applications. This means that electric vehicles will no longer be merely “consumers” of electricity but will become active assets in the power grid:
● Frequency Regulation: EV batteries can respond to grid frequency deviations within milliseconds, providing primary frequency regulation services
● Peak Shaving and Valley Filling: Feeding electricity back into the grid during peak demand periods and charging to store energy during off-peak periods
● Renewable Energy Storage: Absorbing excess solar power generated during the day and excess wind power generated at night to smooth out the intermittency of renewable energy
● Energy Market Participation: EV owners participate in wholesale electricity auctions through aggregators and can even engage in peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading
4.2 5G Enablement: From Power Lines to Mobile Networks
The transport-layer-agnostic design of ISO 15118-20 lays the groundwork for 5G cellular network access. 5G brings not only higher bandwidth but, more importantly:
● Remote charging scenarios: Vehicles can authenticate, negotiate, and settle payments via the 5G network without a physical connection EV charger—paving the way for wireless and automated charging
● Real-time grid coordination: 5G’s ultra-low latency (<1 ms) enables vehicles to participate in real-time grid dispatch and frequency regulation services
● Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) Communication: Integrating charging communications into the broader Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) ecosystem
4.3 Autonomous Charging: The Future of Unattended Charging
As autonomous vehicles (Levels L4/L5) are deployed on a large scale, a fundamental question arises: Who will plug in the charging cable?
The ACD mode described in ISO 15118-20 is designed precisely for this purpose. A complete autonomous charging scenario includes:
● The autonomous vehicle navigates to EV charging station on its own and parks precisely in a charging bay
● A robotic arm or chassis-mounted connector automatically completes the physical connection
● The ISO 15118-20 protocol automatically handles the entire process—including identity authentication, authorization, rate negotiation, and charging control—with zero human intervention throughout
4.4 Wireless Charging: Charge as You Park
The ISO 15118-20 WPT (Wireless Power Transfer) mode defines the complete communication process for wireless charging scenarios, including:
● Alignment and positioning messages between the vehicle and the ground coil
● Power level negotiation and real-time power control
● Foreign Object Detection (FOD) status monitoring
● Billing and session management
4.5 PKI Ecosystem Maturity and Security Enhancements
As the deployment scale of ISO 15118 expands, security has become an increasingly critical concern. ISO 15118-20 and its Amendment 1 continue to strengthen security capabilities in the following areas:
● Enhanced full lifecycle certificate management: Creating a complete, automated closed-loop process from certificate issuance, installation, and renewal to revocation
● Improved certificate revocation handling: More efficient OCSP responses and CRL distribution mechanisms to prevent the continued use of revoked certificates
● Cross-regional root CA governance: Establishes a globally unified governance framework for root certificate authorities, ensuring interoperability of PKI trust chains across different countries and regions
● Defense against advanced attacks: Addressing increasingly complex cybersecurity threats such as man-in-the-middle attacks, replay attacks, and certificate forgery
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