Glossary of EV Terms

Happy Monday. This is the Electric Avenue Glossary of EV Terms. A living document where we explain the many abbreviations and acronyms used in the EV, Charging & Energy industries.

Glossary of Terms

EV - Electric vehicle

DC - Direct Current

AC - Alternating Current

SC - Supercharger (Tesla Fast Charging Network, aka SuC)

OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer (e.g. Car manufacturer)

CPO - Charge Point Operator (Charging networks like IONITY and Electrify America)

MSP - Mobility Service Provider (also EMP or eMSP for E-mobility Service Provider)

CSMS - Charging Station Management System (Cloud system to control chargers, also CPMS = Charge Point Manages System)

CDR = Charge Details Record, a digital data set about a charging session (e.g. Location-Id, authentication identifier, timestamp, consumption values)

EVSE - Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EV charging station)

POI = Point of Interest, data set about one or more EVSE(s) at a location

V2G - Vehicle-to-grid (discharging energy from an electric vehicle battery)

V2H - Vehicle-to-home (discharging energy into home during a power outage = Emergency Backup Power)

V2L - Vehicle-to-Load

V2V - Vehicle-to-Vehicle

V2X - Vehicle-to-everything (Umbrella term for V2G, V2H, V2L, V2V etc)

V1G - Smart, controlled charging (e.g. delayed charging, stopping charging due to demand response, charging when the grid power mix is cleanest)

VPP - Virtual Power Plant

DER - Distributed Energy Resource

DSO - Distribution System Operators, are the entities responsible for distributing and managing energy from the generation sources to the final consumers.

TSO - Transmission System Operators are responsible for the bulk transmission of electric power on the main high voltage electric networks.

CARB - California Air Resources Board

CCS - Combined Charging System (main connector used for fast charging in Europe and North America)

NACS - North American Charging Standard (Tesla´s connector which they propose to replace CCS with in North America)

CHAdeMO - a fast charging connector system created in Japan. CHAdeMo competed with CCS to become the main connector standard in Europe and North America but lost. As of 2022, it only remains popular in Japan.

SOP - Start of Production (e.g. of a car or a charging station product)

MSRP - Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (Price recommended by the Automaker, but independent dealers are free to charge more or less than this price.)

CharIN - Charging Interface Initiative (Industry association promoting CCS)

SoC - State of Charge of the Electric Vehicle

kW - kilowatt is a unit of power and is often used to describe the maximum power output of a charging connector or the maximum power input of an electric vehicle.

kWh - kilowatt-hour is a unit of energy and refers to one kilowatt of power for one hour.

EPA - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Bonus Meme