⚡AFIR-TIME: The Regulation is Live 🧑‍⚖️

Happy Tuesday, this is Electric Avenue. The weekly e-mobility newsletter that brings you the latest updates on electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, and EV memes.

Here’s what we have for you today:

• Who should attend the Open EV Summit? 🗻

• AFIR-TIME: The Regulation is Live 🧑‍⚖️

• 3 Links 🔗

• Memes of the week 🤡

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Let's dive in!

Who should attend the Open EV Summit? 🗻

What is it?

Linux Foundation Energy and Texas Instruments are launching The Open EV Charging Summit, taking place in Dallas, TX on May 15-16, 2024. This event will provide insight into open-source hardware and software solutions for EV charging.

The event will feature presentations from important players in Open Source and EV charging, including LF Energy, US Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, Texas Instruments, Phytec, Chargebyte, PIONIX (Initiatiors of the EVerest Open Source Project) and S44 (Initiators of the CitrineOS Open Source Project).

Who should attend?

Folks interested in Open Source Software applied to EV charging problems across Hardware, Embedded OS and OCPP cloud backends.

Core audience will be Software Developers, Hardware Engineers, Product Managers and Technical Leaders in EV Charging and Smart Energy.

Janek will be present at the event, so shoot an email to [email protected] or reach out on LinkedIn if you’d like to meet up.

AFIR-TIME: The Regulation is Live 🧑‍⚖️

This Saturday (April 13th) marked the go-live date of the European Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation, short AFIR.

Additionally, an official FAQ Document on the regulation has been released.

This marks a big milestone for the regulation which brings some much-discussed requirements:

Charging Infrastructure Coverage Targets 🎯:

• for Cars 🚘: Along Europe’s core road network (TEN-T), fast-charging infrastructure will be provided every 60 km by the end of 2025 with at least 400 kW power output (overall pool → several charge points // increases to 600 kW by the end of 2027). A single charge point must provide at least 150 kW (Article 3 - 4a). Additionally, AFIR requires that the EU member states make sure that at least 1.3 kW of power output is provided through public charge points for every car. (Article 3 - 1a).

• for Trucks 🚚 : Every 60 km along the TEN-T network with at least 3,600 kW per site and 350 kW per charge point dedicated to heavy-duty electric vehicles. (Article 4 - 1c)

• Our take 💭: We can expect at least 3+ high-power 150kW charge points along Europe’s main highways, which is great news. From our personal experience, the whitespaces in many EU countries aren’t too big for passenger cars anymore. But, it’s a completely different game when it comes to heavy-duty vehicles. There’s still a lot of work to be done.

Reliability and Uptime 🚧:

• There are no set requirements regarding reliability and uptime metrics within AFIR. The only reference to “uptime” is at the beginning where it says “.. it is important that operators of publicly accessible recharging or refuelling points ensure that the opening hours of such points and uptime of their services fully meet the needs of end users”

• Our take 💭: Sounds a little squishy. We hope that competitive market dynamics will ensure that charging networks are held accountable and provide a reliable service. Reliability on Europe’s DC charging infrastructure has increased a lot during the last few years, but most of the installed hardware is still relatively young and has not seen a lot of abuse and aging yet.

Payment Methods 💳:

• Fast charging stations (power output >= 50 kW): All stations must be equipped with a payment card reader OR devices with a contactless functionality that is at least able to read payment cards (Article 5 - 1). Notably, the Q&A clarifies that the two are “essentially the same” (Question 5.8). Additionally, existing infrastructure needs to be retrofitted by the 1st of January 2027.

• Slow Charging Stations (less than 50 kW): CPOs must enable EV drivers to use a device with internet (aka smartphone) to make secure payment transactions such as those generating a specific Quick Response (QR) code (Article 5 - 1c). Most likely the AFIR intended to facilitate the adoption of dynamic QR codes which include the amount to be paid and can be scanned through a regular banking app (for reference see Mastercard’s Scan to Pay UX Journey). However, it hasn’t seen wide adoption yet and in the FAQ section this part of the regulation has been weakened: Answer 5.10 explains that a static QR code that guides users to a website through which secure payment transactions are carried out on a mobile phone could be sufficient (for now).

• Cash 💶: Fun fact, supporting payment in cash alone is not sufficient as AFIR mandates the support of electronic payments through terminals to accept credit and debit cards (Question 5.7).

• Our take 💭: We expect that once private EV drivers feel that they can reliably use card payment, this will shift transaction volume from contract-based MSP services towards ad-hoc payment (see:⚡Why MSPs must adapt to survive).

Pricing Schemes 💰:

• Price Differentiation: Ad-hoc prices shall be reasonable and non-discriminatory. CPOs must not discriminate prices between end users and MSPs, or between different MSPs (Article 5 - 3). However, prices may be different if they are proportionate and objectively justified. In the Q&A (questions 5.12-5.15) the commission did not give guiding boundaries but expects a case-by-case basis evaluation. It is ultimately up to the European Court of Justice to assess compliance with this provision.

• Ad-hoc payment >= 50 kW: Only kWh-based pricing is allowed for the electricity delivered. Additionally, a price per minute to discourage EV drivers from parking their vehicles at a charge point is allowed if it fulfills its objective. The Q&A outlines that an occupancy fee that is applied from the start of a recharging session is not proportional to the objective but does not give a time threshold (Question 5.18).

• Price Transparency: Ad-hoc prices have to be visibly present at the >=50 kW charging station (e.g. on a screen or on a sticker). For charging stations with less than 50 kW a QR code that leads to a website is sufficient (Question 5.19). Price components must be shown in the following order (1) €/kWh, (2) €/min, (3) price/session, (4) any other price component

• MSP Prices: Untouched from this regulation is the pricing of MSPs which can apply all three price components on any charging station as long as those are reasonable and transparently displayed before the start of the charging session via electronic means (Article 5-5).

• Our take 💭: We expect prices to converge between the various providers (MSPs, CPO Ad-Hoc, CPO’s MSP) on the market, but there will continue to be differentiated offers. We are curious whether we will see some court cases regarding price discrimination of charging networks towards MSPs.

Roaming 📵:

• No obligation for e-roaming: There is no mandatory rule for a charge point operator to make its charging station available via e-roaming to MSPs. In addition, the Q&A catalog specifically notes that “imposing mandatory e-roaming” was considered but discarded as it interferes with the contractual freedom of CPOs. Mandatory e-roaming by national law should be assessed with this background (Question 5.1).

• Our take 💭: We expect that e-roaming will remain common across Europe, even as ad-hoc payments become easier. Contract-based MSP services with roaming across many networks are particularly useful for fleets to summarize invoicing data. Even Tesla opened its European Supercharger network for roaming to support fleet managers, allow Tesla vehicles to be adopted in company fleets, and increase utilization (we reported back in January).

Data Sharing 🛜:

• Operators of public charging points will have to provide static and dynamic data for their charging points free of charge from the 14th of April 2025. Static data includes location, number of connectors with type and power output, number of disabled parking spaces, contact information, and opening hours. Dynamic data includes operational status (operational/out of order), availability (in use/not in use), ad hoc price, and if electricity supplied is 100 % renewable (yes/no)(Article 20-2).

• Data will be provided via APIs to National Access Points which need to be operational until the end of this year. By the end of 2026, there will be a single European Access Point that will act as a data gateway (Article 20-3 & 4).

• Our take 💭: Free and accessible data is a great foundation for many applications. Therefore, the EU is creating a great opportunity to foster innovation and enable companies to build new and innovative solutions for EV adoption.

That's it. Still some appetite for more regulatory news? → Check out our recent comparison of AFIR vs the North American NEVI funding rules: ⚡ Battle of the abbreviations - AFIR vs NEVI ⚔️🤺

3 Links 🔗

• 4 days, 12 chargers🔌: Remember when US charging network EVgo copied Tesla’s approach to pre-fab fast charging stalls? Well Tesla just announced that it has set a new record of just 4 days from charger delivery to site go-live thanks to its pre-fab Superchargers. Your turn, EVgo!

• Stop, Shop and Charge 🛒⚡️: Dutch charging network Fastned opened its first shop at a fast charging station located at Brecht off E19 between Antwerp and Breda. Besides a shop with snacks for travelers, toilets and a resting area are integrated at the pilot location. Fastned is the second CPO (besides Gridserve in the UK) which integrates a shop at it’s location and thereby mirrors the user experience of a traditional fuel station operator like BP, Shell or Circle K.

• Xiaomi SU7 range update🔋: Remember last week’s impressive range numbers of up to 810km/503mi on a 93kWh battery? Well, as we know the Chinese CLTC drive cycle leads to highly optimistic range numbers. This week we received the first real-world consumption (~18kWh/100km) and range numbers (~571km on 19inch wheels in highway driving) for the SU7 Max with the 93kWh battery. That and more updates in this video from MAD EV:

Most-clicked link last week: was the Product Manager role at Ford PRO Charging in the UK. Check it out in last week’s hot jobs section → (Link).

Meme of the Week 🤡

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