From December 30, 2022,the law is changing to improve the security of wall chargers installed outside of homes. The new regulations are designed to shore up the protection of personal data for every owner of an EV wall charger as well as improving the safeguards to the electric circuit, to make charging safer and more secure.
If installers or sellers of home wall chargers wish to offer non compliant wall chargers, permission from the Government is required. If you purchase a wall charger from a retailer or have one installed by an electrician, ensure that you ask to see the Statement of Compliance that the wall chargers conform to the first and second parts of the Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021. These Regulations include the following features:
- Default charge schedule. The charge point must allow charging to begin at set times to enable the user to take advantage of off-peak trips.
- Randomised delay. Charge points can begin or end a charging session randomly by up to 10 minutes to prevent surges in demand caused by EV owners charging their vehicles at exactly the same time.
- Easy to understand charging stats. Charge points must display the duration of charging, total kWh used and the data to be displayed by weak, or month, or year.
- Tamper detection. If someone tries to remove the cover of the wall charger, the owner will be notified.
- Security log. The owner can view the security notifications they have been sent.
- Updated software and security standards. Improvement of security protocols to protect the local network and the owner must be able to see the software version that their wall charger is using.
It is important that EV wall chargers are aware of the new laws as manufacturers now need to ensure that the charge points they provide meet minimum standards that will protect users from their wall charger from being hacked as well as ensuring that they are up to date with the standards required for safe charging.
