The EV-ID is passed on by a CCS vehicle after it is plugged in. After a first-time registration by the charging station operator, all chargers in their network will instantly recognize a customer’s vehicle. With this automatic handshake, the station can automatically start charging while the transaction is being processed in the background, through the end of the session.

The Autocharge function works with older, recent and new vehicles with a CCS charging connection. Testing has shown that most electric vehicles manufactured since 2012 can communicate their unique ID, and are capable of benefitting from the Autocharge feature. As of today, vehicles equipped with a CCS charging port are capable of Autocharge.

When vehicles equipped with other charging standards offer this functionality, ABB will include them into the functionality.

The Autocharge concept is developed within the open standards community and is based on standard OCPP communication and the default properties of the CCS protocol. Therefore the implementation is simple and fast as it only requires minimal adaptations to standard OCPP based backoffices.

The Autocharge feature is available immediately for testing with charging station operators and OCPP back-offices. After successful testing, the software can be made available via over-the-air-update to the installed base of ABB chargers

ABB has provided charging solutions as part of its drive to promote sustainable mobility since 2010, and has sold more than 6,000 DC fast-chargers with related services such as cloud connectivity worldwide.

Fastned is building a European network of fast-charging stations located at high traffic locations along the highway and in cities, where electric cars can charge in 20 minutes. This will provide freedom for electric cars to drive across Europe. As of today, Fastned has 63 stations operational in The Netherlands and is working on expanding its fast charging network to the rest of Europe.