The EV charging stations are connected devices and implemented with several third-party service providers such as energy suppliers, e-MSPs, and charge point operators, unlike the non-networked gasoline fuel stations.

The number of Electric Vehicle (EV) users is increasing hugely on national and international levels. The recent data by Statista has shown that around 767k units of EV have been sold in 2022, and by 2027 the EV market unit sales in the area will reach up to 2131k. Furthermore, in 2022-2027, the US EV market will increase by 23.17%, hence, resulting in a market volume or revenue of nearly $139.10 billion.

The stats show that EVs have a promising future in the area, and steps must be taken to improve the user experience. Regardless of having much popularity, the absence of access to suitable and appropriate EV charging stations obstructs the widespread adoption of EVs. In this article, we will pin down the importance of IoT in EV charging industry.

EV Charging Challenges

• The need for IoT in EV charging industry is increasing; however, the power grids are not enough for fulfilling the charging demands at different locations.

• The electricity grids requires continuous upgradation for supporting charging, specifically, for the city center parking facilities and large charging plazas on busy highways., which in turn will result in higher prices.

• Since the acceptance of EVs is in progress, IoT in EV charging industry have been developed at prime locations. Yet, less popular or remote areas are not having proper access to EV charging stations which is also affecting EV adoption.

• In addition, the present EV stations are lacking authentication and authorization and are having insufficient user profile management systems. This demonstrates that the data collection and analysis over these stations are not efficient, adversely affecting the transactions and billing.

• Moreover, alack of energy optimizati on and consumption in peak hours will generate downtime and customer dissatisfaction.

IoT in EV Charging Industry

In the landscape of EV charging, IoT includes three different components: charging equipment, mobile application, and charging management platform. Charging equipment will be providing a physical connection between the power grid and the EV and executes all core charging tasks. The mobile or web application helps in enabling EV charging owners for connecting with the charging network to authenticate themselves. And thus, performing several charging operations. In addition, a cloud-based platform gathers all data from the IoT sensors and does analytics for managing routine operations.
The most important feature of IoT in EV charging industry is data collection and analytics. Since even a single charging session can produce a huge amount of helpful data, which might be at chance of wastage if not analyzed in good order.

The data on the EV station involves EV battery capacity data, power consumption, grid limits, and demand, and troubleshooting data gathered. Moreover, implementing IoT in EV charging industry will be enabling the demonstration of data in reports, charts, and dashboards, along with constant real-time monitoring of operations. This facilitates the consumers and alarms them in case of crucial failures and updates. For example, the mobile application can present the user the unexpended charging time and total cost. Also, Charge Point Operators (CPOs) can help in remotely solve the devices instead of physically going to the station, etc. IoT in EV charging stations helps in saving time, effort, and cost.

IoT's Role in EV Charging Transition

IoT has the capability for facilitating all the stakeholders who are part of the EV value chain; these entails EV owners, EV charging station operators, network operators, etc. The following article will summarize different approaches in which IoT benefits the EV charging industry.

- Improved Authentication

Before charging the EV, the users are required to authenticate themselves with the assistance of smartphones or RFID tags for access. As soon as the EV owner verifies himself, the data is then sent to the cloud. This data is carefully analyzed, and the system verifies the driver's profile for a full authentication and performing authorization and accounting activities. This high-end authentication will help in ensuring secure billing and transaction.

- EV Station Search

Finding an EV charging station in an unfamiliar region is difficult. With IoT, EV owners can simply search for nearby stations by looking at the application's location, checking availability, accessibility, and reserving a slot in advance per the charging needs. The application incorporates data of real-time for advising EV owners about off-peak hours and low-cost charging.

- Automation

While charging the EV, the drivers are able to roam around at the station. They can have some munching and rest as an application will notify the driver about the time left in charging, error in cable connection, automatic payment, etc., as the system is working autonomously and can send real-time data to the user. Hence, there is no need to stand by the EV and wait until it's charging.

- Smart Charging

With implementing EV, energy requirement and consumption are growing exponentially. The energy rates can alter as per the season. For example, energy production tends to be higher during the summer season with the augmented EV charging rates in the daytime. With IoT deployment, the chargers can look for the lowest rates available from the grid and start charging on its own. This helps the CPOs for managing the rise in energy demand. And thus, helps in saving costs.

Final Word…

EV adoption is increasing highly because of the new functionalities, augmented driving range, and decreased battery prices from leading automakers. However, an efficient and dependent EV charging substructure in the industry is also necessary for complementing the growth, and in this regard, IoT is said to be the basic block. IoT is advantageous not only for EV drivers. However, also for the CPOs for remotely monitoring the operations, preventing downtime Thus, it is ensuring charging availability, and creating a smooth EV charging experience.

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