As a nation, we have seen a significant number of people begin to opt for cleaner and greener transport and whilst the adoption of electric vehicles continues to increase at a rate like never before, the Government has had to make some small changes to the minimum standards for home and workplace charge points so the National Grid can keep up.

The Electric Vehicle (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021  will come into force on the 30th June and will apply to England, Wales, and Scotland. 

What are the new requirements?

Off-Peak Charging

In a bid to encourage drivers to charge their vehicles more environmentally consciously, new charge points will be defaulted to charge during off-peak hours, when other demands for energy are at their lowest. Charging through these hours helps the National Grid to balance their supply but drivers may benefit from less expensive off-peak energy rates.

Don’t worry, peak charging isn’t banned, the Government do understand that charging during these hours may not be suitable for everyone so users/charge point owners will be able to override the default settings.

Randomised Delays

In conjunction with off-peak charging,  charge points will also feature a randomised delay function of up to 10 mins at the start of each charging session that will prevent everyone’s charger coming alive the moment the off-peak period starts. This protects the Grid and your local electricity substations from surges in demand, and if charging off-peak, will probably not be noticed but, if you are a driver who is accustomed to checking your charging status, please keep this new functionality in mind if your charge session doesn’t start instantly – just give it a little time.

Security

The security aspect of the new regulations is not a mandatory requirement until 30 December 2022 but once applicable, a ‘tamper-protection boundary’ must be included to guard the internal components. Should an attempt be made to access the internals of the charge point, whether successful or not, the charger must log and notify the charge point owner as well as record this data.

Another new security and privacy requirement is that all communications sent to and from the smart charger must be encrypted with protections in place for potential cyber-attacks. It must also be possible to delete any personal data that may have been entered into the charge point.

Enabling Demand Side Response (DSR)

DSR is a mechanism for the National Grid to send a signal to participating sites that, typically, have high levels of power consumption. The signal is automated and requests the site to increase/ decrease the load they are currently using to compensate for unpredictable dips/surges in available power supply.