EV Charging Stations

Electric Vehicle Revolution

Electric Vehicles (EVs) play a significant role in reducing global greenhouse gases, emitting up to 80% less than diesel vehicles and 81% less than gasoline vehicles. Because of available incentives, the EV market is growing by 33% yearly, driving the adoption of smart and cost-effective charging stations, which translates into a massive opportunity for device makers.

Smart EV Charging Station Fundamentals

Compared to conventional stations, a smart EV charging station wirelessly captures real-time consumption and production data from the power grid. As a result, it directly impacts local energy consumption and renewable energy availability. In short, wireless connectivity provides remote control over EV chargers.

Key Benefits of Smart EV Charging Station

Charging an EV with a domestic power outlet is comparable to boiling a kettle of water for 15 hours - impractical, time consuming, and dangerous. Smart EV charging stations provide significant cost savings and fast charging times by charging outside peak hours or when the generation of renewable energy is substantial.

• Remote Monitoring. Increased flexibility to monitor and check charging status remotely via a smartphone.
• Easy Setup. With plug-and-play setup, charging is adjusted to the vehicle’s specifications.
• Automatic Optimization. The station monitors which phase is the least loaded on the system and uses the one that will result in faster charging, which also reduces the risk of overloading one phase.

Wireless Solutions Ideal for EV Charging Stations

Silicon Labs empowers device makers engineering smart EV chargers for commercial and residential customers. Our wireless SoCs and modules offer best-in-class RF performance with high receiver sensitivity and +20 dBm transmission power. By adding advanced security features on every ordered chip, Silicon Labs helps you reduce the risk of ecosystem security breaches and prevent unwanted devices from passing the commissioning process.

Scalability of Smart EV Chargers

An increase in the number of smart EV chargers can significantly smooth out peak periods and increase the usage of renewable energy. Wireless connectivity ensures up-scaling and easy communication between charges, which leads to energy distribution across the connected units.

Footprint Size of the EV Charging Station

The station's physical size is a vital design consideration because most users have access to just a small garage or a single parking space. Wireless connectivity reduces the size of the whole unit because there’s no need for wired electronics to handle the external communication.

Security

Security becomes critical as chargers are connected to the local network, which exposes the network to potential attacks. Silicon Labs’ hardware and software solutions are secured at all levels to safeguard devices against the most sophisticated logical and wireless attacks. Our Secure Vault™ firmware enables the world’s first wireless SoC’s to achieve the PSA Certified Level 3 designation.

Long Wireless Range

Chargers often communicate to a hub, which can be inside a building or a large parking lot where covering long distances is necessary. As a result, customers choose Silicon Labs high TX power, sub-GHz wireless and mesh networking solutions, which introduce strong connection even on longer distances.

Low Latency

There may be hundreds of charging stations in a system and they need to constantly communicate to balance the load. The latency heavily influences system performance, and high latency increases the risk of overloading the system. The high TX power of Silicon Labs’ wireless hardware and Wi-SUN, Connect Stack, and Proprietary protocols, ensure that EV charging systems deliver high performance.