EVSE - Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment
EVSE is the vital connecting tech that pumps electricity into every electric vehicle on the planet. It’s a big deal, but it’s less complex than you might think. Here’s everything you need to know.
It’s no secret that electric vehicles require their own, unique infrastructure – and that the proliferation of that infrastructure is a huge priority for the industry. EVSE is the beating heart of that effort since it makes up the core hardware requirements. But what exactly is it?
In this guide, we’ll take a whistle-stop tour through the technology, standards and business practices that go into today’s EV supply equipment – and bust some of the sector’s most complex jargon while we’re at it…
What is EVSE?
EVSE stands for Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment. Breaking that down, the word ‘supply’ here is in reference to supplying EVs with electricity – so the term really describes the tech used to send electricity into a vehicle’s battery.
In practical terms, that means the charging station or wall box and their associated cables – the physical ‘nuts and bolts’ of EV charging hardware. Anywhere you plug your car in, that’s a piece of EVSE.
Electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) usually refers to:
- Public or private charging stations
- Home wall box chargers
- Charging cables
But EVSE isn’t just hardware. The term also refers to the software that can monitor and manage the charging process, stop the charge when enough power has been transferred, and communicate with other systems like driver-facing charging apps.
Electric vehicle supply equipment also needs to carry security and safety features, like ground fault protection and a means to prevent surcharges.
EVSE components, types and standards
EVSE chargers come in a variety of flavours, while cables and connectors also have their own standards that make them fit specific vehicle models. Here’s a no-nonsense breakdown:
EVSE components
There are a few key components in the EVSE ecosystem to keep track of:
- Charging station
This is the dedicated hardware box that transfers energy from the energy grid to a vehicle’s battery
- Charging cable and connector
Best thought of as the ‘pipe’ that the electricity travels down. Your car will have its own cable and connector type that connects to a specific charging station slot, or vice versa – the charger will have a cable that connects to your car.
- Communications protocols
Each charging station you’ll come across is built on software that can track charging. That means the ability to begin, stop and monitor sessions, issue invoices and take payments.
EVSE charging standards
Chargers are typically grouped into one of three ‘levels’ (also called types), where level 1 is the slowest and level 3 is the fastest.
Level 1 charging is sometimes called ‘trickle charging’, thanks to just how slow it is. That’s because it’s done simply by connecting your car’s charger to a standard wall plug at home. While this will provide a charge, it’s far from optimal given that the voltage is incredibly low – resulting in long charging times.
Level 2 charging is what you’ll find on dedicated wall boxes and a lot of publicly available chargers. At home, that’ll be around 240v – but it’ll be higher and quicker on dedicated public hardware. These chargers and EVSE are also referred to as AC chargers, as they use the standard AC power sent from the energy grid.
You’ll find level 3 EVSE in the form of DC charging stations. These faster stations take the alternating current from the energy grid and convert it into DC before it makes its way to the car’s battery. That saves the EV a job and considerably speeds up the charge.
A good analogy here would be baking bread. If we only gave you the raw ingredients, you’d have to make the dough before you did any baking. But if we gave you a batch of ready-made dough, your loaf would go straight into the oven and be done a whole lot quicker. That’s DC charging in a nutshell.
EVSE’s role in EV charging infrastructure
If electricity is the lifeblood of EV infrastructure, then you can think of EVSE as a network of veins spreading across roadways around the world. Each piece of EV supply equipment is a vital new part of the ecosystem, and a new place for drivers to charge.
The future of EVs relies on charging facilities being as commonplace as gas stations are today – every charging station that gets deployed is another link in that chain, and another step in the right direction.
The benefits of EVSE for businesses
Thinking about offering EV charging at a location you own? There’s never been a better time: driver demand for new EVSE is only growing as more and more people make the switch to electric.
By investing in EVSE, you can:
Bring new people to your business
Whether you own and operate a parking lot, shopping mall, supermarket, residential unit, commercial property or enterprise fleet, opening up new public EVSE locations can help bring local EV drivers to your business. The nature of charging means that drivers will have some time to spare, so businesses can benefit from this new, captive and repeat clientele.
Build new revenue streams
Alongside bringing new people to your existing business, charging is a robust new business type in and of itself. With the right platform-based partner on board (like us at Spirii), running a reliable, profitable charging business is incredibly simple – and easy to scale as increased demand presents itself.
Help the planet
EVs are the future of transportation, and they’re here to replace emission-heavy petrol and diesel vehicles that pump huge amounts of CO2 into our atmosphere. By offering drivers EVSE and provisions, you’ll be incentivising more people to make the switch to electric, thus speeding up our move away from a reliance on fossil fuels.
Choosing the right EVSE
For any business considering an EVSE installation, there’s an important choice to make: which kind of equipment is best for your site(s)? The answer relies on answering a few key questions.
Firstly, what kind of vehicles and power requirements will your visitors need? Heavy transport, for instance, requires completely different logistical solutions to publicly-driven EVs.
Likewise, the more people you expect to visit your charging stations, the more energy you’ll need to be able to draw from the grid. This requires working with intelligent grid management features like dynamic load management and demand response, as well as thinking about the upfront cost of this energy as a basic cash flow equation.
You’ll then need to consider charger types. Level 3 (DC) chargers cost more to buy and install than their AC counterparts, but they allow drivers to charge quicker, which means they’re a more attractive prospect and can provide a higher turnover of drivers.
All these questions can make investing in EVSE seem like a real head-scratcher, but there is a simple solution: partner with an expert in the field…
Spirii: Your EV charging partner
Keen to offer hassle-free EVSE? Spirii is a complete EV charging software solution and full-service platform – one that enables charge point operators (CPOs) to plan, build, scale, and manage their charging business.
Our offering enables real-time monitoring of chargers, alongside data and insights and a comprehensive suite of controls for users, pricing, opening hours, and more.
Spirii’s interconnected platform is what powers everything we do, making it your complete solution for operating a modern, robust EVSE solution and service – all built exactly to your spec. That’s all while enabling smart and easy access to charging and payment for drivers across Europe.
You can learn more about what makes Spirii’s award-winning EV charging software the most comprehensive solution around right here.