Open Charge Alliance advances international standardization to accelerate electric vehicle adoption worldwide

AMSTERDAM, Nov. 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Open Charge Alliance (OCA), a global consortium of public and private electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure leaders, today announced it has chosen to standardize the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP)--the EV industry's most mature communications protocol--at OASIS, the international open standards development organization (SDO). With the goal of scaling interoperable EV charging infrastructure worldwide, the move to OASIS will provide an expeditious standardization process and potential pathway to integrate OCPP with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) framework. The swift timing underscores the strong need for standardizing EV industry assets to support global growth and provide seamless asset integration.

"OCA has come a long way since its inception," said Brett Hauser, Co-founder of the Open Charge Alliance. "Standardization with OASIS is the next critical milestone for OCA to reach further scale. Having this open interoperable framework is essential for both innovation and emerging markets."

OCA was formed to create a universal open communication standard—OCPP—to answer the challenges associated with proprietary networks and enable seamless communication between charging stations and vendor central systems. The closed nature of proprietary charging networks has led to unnecessary EV driver and asset owner frustration over the years, fueling widespread industry support for an open model. With more than 20,000 installations in 17 different countries, OCPP has become the de facto open standard for open charger to network communications.

"Leveraging the EV industry's de facto global open standard, our customers have the flexibility to mix and match their choice of chargers with a network platform that is tailored to meet their evolving needs," said Pierre Sacre, NAM EV Business Director at Schneider Electric.

The enhanced OCPP version 1.6 was released in October with the help of OCA stakeholders advising development to meet the industry's diverse set of needs from energy utilities to charging network providers and hardware manufacturers. This OCPP version 1.6 will be supported by a compliance test tool for self-testing at the beginning of next year.

"OCPP provides a mature, open model for all stakeholders to collaborate in support of a common standard," said Onoph Caron, Co-founder and Chair of the Open Charge Alliance.  OCA will build on OCPP 1.6 to promote and enable open, flexible EV charging networks for the next wave of EV adoption worldwide. OCA intends to begin the standardization process within an OASIS Technical Committee and work towards approval of the next version of OCPP as an official OASIS standard soon. The scope of development will include aligning or harmonizing OCPP with IEC standards, such as IEC 61850 and ISO/IEC 15118, which are widely recognized by the electric grid and the EV community.  OCA has defined key objectives in its path towards global standardization which include:

• Developing interoperability standards through an open consensus process that aligns with upstream and downstream standards for Vehicle-Grid Integration (VGI) through OASIS and ultimately through IEC
• Providing tools for compliance testing and supporting an OCPP certification process
• Creating an open network for asset owners to seamlessly integrate charging infrastructure and the grid

"Based on the traction to date, OCPP is clearly providing what consumers, manufacturers, and utilities want--an open and accessible charging network. We're excited by OCPP's potential to lower EVSE costs, provide more vendor engagement, drive faster innovation, and enable greater integration in the smart grid," said Laurent Liscia, OASIS CEO and Executive Director. "We look forward to advancing OCPP at OASIS and bringing even more stakeholders into this exciting process."

About Open Charge Alliance:
The Open Charge Alliance (OCA) is a global consortium of public and private electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure leaders that have come together with a single goal in mind: to further the adoption of the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP). Designed to ensure interoperability standards that will guide open and flexible EV networks worldwide, OCPP is the accepted protocol of choice in 50 countries and over 20,000 charging stations, providing accessibility, compliance and uniform communications between charging stations and management systems. For more information on OCA or to join our growing global membership base please visit: http://www.OpenChargeAlliance.org.   

About OASIS:
OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is an international, nonprofit consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of open standards for the global information society. OASIS standards offer the potential to lower cost, stimulate innovation, grow global markets, and protect the right of free choice of technology. The consortium has more than 5,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 65 countries. http://www.oasis-open.org

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SOURCE Open Charge Alliance

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