Electric Vehicle Charging Wiki
by Ensto
Welcome to Ensto EVC Wiki. Here we have categorized EV (electric vehicle), EV industry, and EVC (electric vehicle charging) related terms for you. But why? Because, EV world is filled with abbreviations, terms and acronyms, that can be hard to comprehend at times. Here Ensto EVC Wiki will help you. We will keep updating this page, so make sure to bookmark EVC Wiki. This way you have one click access to the most up to date EV information in compact form.
We think, at Ensto, that it is important to get people talk the language of EVs, because only that way you can truly understand our surrounding and fast morphing landscape. Our industry and its future is much depended on EV innovation and evolution of EVC technology. By understanding these you can better identify your opportunities in the industry and your local area. This is what Ensto EVC Wiki is here for.
So, let’s take a dive into the terminology of EV world and get to know the meaning behind our words.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Click the topic that interests you
Charging operator related terms
ELECTRIC CAR RELATED
What are the different kind of EVs rolling on our roads? What technology can you plug-in to your EV, to make it even better? And how what kind of EVs have the lowest emissions release? All these, and much more you will find answered in this section.
EV – Electric Vehicle. EVs are cars that use battery powered motors instead of traditional internal combustion engines (ICE). Other form of “EV” abbreviation you might see used is “E.V.”.
ICE – Internal Combustion Engine. ICE is the old-fashioned car motor that powers the non-EV cars. Today, it is at times used to provide electric cars with additional travel range with an auxiliary ICE unit.
BEV – Is a 100% Battery-powered Electric Vehicle. Pretty self-explanatory, once you know the meaning of those three magic letters.
HYBRID or HEV – A car that integrates a small battery and an electric motor to enhance the efficiency of the engine. The battery’s charge is maintained by the ICE (internal Combustion Engine) engine—it cannot be charged by plugging it in to an electricity supply. Hybrids can offer greater fuel economy than a traditional ICE but can only travel very short distances on just the battery stored electric power. However, they are getting more wide spread in the countries where the necessary charging infrastructure is still missing. This tells us a message of demand for alternative engine types for cars in the future.
HDEV – Hybrid Diesel Electric Vehicle is a hybrid car that uses diesel powered motor instead of the gasoline engine.
PHEV – Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle. Same deal here as with hybrids, difference being that PHEVs have capability to plug into an external power source for charging the car battery. A great charger for plug-in electric vehicles is Ensto Wallbox which you can fit in your home garage or parking space at work. For commercial EV charging or retailers wishing to support their small business with electric car charging, it is a good idea to select a wall mounted charging unit.
EREV – Extended Range Electric Vehicle. Although the electric motor of a PHEV always drives the wheels of those vehicles, EREVs feature an auxiliary power unit, usually an internal combustion engine (ICE), that acts as a generator to recharge the battery when it runs out. You might see this abbreviation also in the form of ER-EV.
FCV – Fuel Cell Vehicle is a car type that gets its energy from fuel cells rather than from battery. These fuel cells generate energy by a chemical reaction and differ from battery powered cars as FCVs need ongoing supply of fuel and oxygen to maintain the energy production. What makes this different from battery powered engines is that battery already has the energy, but FCV produces it itself.
Other form of FCV you might see used is FCEV which stands for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle.
ZEV – Zero Emission Vehicle is a car that has no emissions and thus doesn’t pollute. Another similar term that you might come across is ULEV which stands for Ultra Low Emission Vehicle.
BEVx – Stands for Battery Electric Vehicle with extended range. This is a subtype of BEV (Battery-powered Electric Vehicle) or PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle).
PHEVLER – Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle with Long Electric Range. In other words, PHEVLER is a subtype of PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) with the difference that PHEVLER’s travel distance is double the PHEV’s.
REx – Range Extender is often an external power unit that you can connect to your electric car for additional travel distance. In other words, REx extends your EV’s maximum drive range. Another abbreviation you might see used is APU (Auxiliary Power Unit). REx isn’t necessarily an extra battery, but it can also be internal combustion engine (ICE).
CHARGING DEVICE RELATED
Do you own an electric car? Or would you like to get the optimal EV charger for your business? This is your place to start. Learn the different kind of EV chargers that exist and find out is AC or DC better for your EV charging business. This section we created with private EV owners, CPOs and businesses in mind. Now, let’s begin and electrify our EV charging knowledge.
EVSE – Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment. This is the hardware for electric vehicle charging. EV charging point manufacturers are sometimes called EVSE manufacturers. One of these is Ensto as we design, manufacture and supply EV charging equipment to our customers. To learn more on how electric vehicle charging can boost your revenue, see this blogpost. And if you want help with selecting the right EV charger for your company, find help from this post.
CPMS – Charging Point Management System. This is the back-office software that can be used to control charging points. EMOs, CPNOs and CPSOs rely on CPMS software. You can differentiate EVSE manufacturers by the quality of their CPMS offering, in addition to the quality of their hardware. Our CPMS solution is called Ensto EV Manager which is intuitive user-interface that enables quick and efficient management, operation and control of users and charging stations as well as user-based consumption data reporting.
EVCS – Electric Vehicle Charging Station is any charging station equipped with EV chargers. Here you can load your car battery. EVCSs are crucial part of EV infrastructure, as they enable consumers to fill their car battery effortlessly. Electric vehicle charging stations have many synonyms like EV charging points, charge point, electronic charging station, electric recharge point, and electric vehicle supply equipment. Many charging points use and trust Ensto’s chargers to provide the customer with top notch battery loading experience. Our EV chargers are widely used and trusted, so you can find them for example busy locations like the Norwegian airports operated by Avinor.
PV – Photovoltaics is a method by which sun energy can be turned into electricity. You can find PV method used in solar panels for example.
AC – Alternative Current is a form of energy that changes the flow of its direction. AC is the opposite of DC which stands for Direct Current. To learn more on the differences of AC and DC in the EV charging industry, see this blog post.
DC – Direct Current is a form of energy that flows only to one direction without changing its direction of flow. This makes DC the opposite of AC which stands for Alternative Current. If you wish to learn the important differences of DC and AC in EV charging, see this blog post that covers the topic in detail.
Mode 1 – A slow AC charging for light weight electric vehicles.
Mode 2 – A slow AC charging charger type that is utilizing normal domestic socket. Only for temporary or emergency charging.
Mode 3 – Mode 3 charger can be either a fast or a slow AC charger specially designed for EV charging.
Mode 4 – Mode 4 chargers are fast DC chargers that use for example CHAdeMo or CCS technology.
Type 1 – EV charging plug that is often used in older version of Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i-Miev.
Type 2 – Main EV charging plug that is nowadays used by European car manufacturers.
Type 3 – EV charging plug that has safety shutters and suits the EV Plug Alliance proposal.
Type 4 – Charging coupler that has a special system. It can be equipped with CHAdeMo for example.
Mennekes – A type 2 connector which is used in EU by most modern electric vehicles.
CCS – Combined Charging System is a fast EV charging system that is utilized by many European electric vehicle car producers.
CHAdeMO – Stands for CHArge de MOve which is EV charging system designed for rapid electric vehicle charging. Ensto has high quality products for electric vehicle charging and you can view them here.
Regen – In your EV this stands for a system that allows your electric car to regenerate battery life while braking. One of the technologies that make EVs a little more efficient.
FAST CHARGE – Charging at a higher current than a domestic supply (about range of 7-22kW as opposed to 3kW). This will charge an average electric car to full battery life in three to four hours.
RC – Stands for Rapid Charger, Rapid Charge or Rapid Charging. It means a DC charger that can fill or significantly grow your battery charge in 30 minutes. To learn more on rapid EV charging, see our menu of electric vehicle chargers.
Supercharger – Supercharger is a specific kind of EV rapid charger that is designed to supply energy for Tesla electric vehicles. For other electric cars we have wide selection of high-quality EV chargers here.
SMART – The term SMART is often used when describing next generation electricity equipment. When it comes to EVs this usually means SMART charging equipment. SMART chargers (or other electricity related products) are designed to tackle the problem called grid overloads which potentially can damage your local energy grid. This is why many governments fine companies and individuals for overloading the grid. SMART EV charger can help you prevent the issue of energy peaks and grid overloads in the peak charging hours when large number of EV owners simultaneously plug in their cars to load their battery. Also, SMART chargers are connected to CPMS that enable efficient user management and user-based consumption reporting.
At Ensto, we design, manufacture and supply the market with high quality SMART charging solutions to provide your electric vehicle with the energy it needs. To view our SMART chargers, visit this page.
DSR – Demand Side Response is a SMART charging technology that helps you to optimize your car battery charging. It takes into account on how you are using energy instead of just draining maximum amount of energy from the grid (characteristic of a dumb charger). With this technology you may even limit your EV charger to load your car only during the hours when electricity is cheap. So, as you understand, that’s how the demand side response can help you save on charging costs. To learn more on DSR, see this blog post.
CHARGING OPERATOR RELATED
Underneath we discuss the EV terminology surrounding private EV owners every day. Some of them are hard to see, even though you use them all the time. That makes it just even more interesting. Find out what is the technology powering your car and enabling your charging point operators to provide you the quality service you deserve. Let’s start.
EMO – Electric Mobility Operator. All companies and organizations that run electric vehicle charging point networks as their core business, or as a division, business unit, or major project. Many EMOs use our EV charging products and are customers of Ensto. To better understand which electric vehicle charger best suits your business needs, see this blog post for help.
EMP – Electro Mobility Provider is a company or organization that provides solutions for moving away from fossil fuels consuming transportation. In other words, EMPs are working to provide us with technology that enables us to reduce carbon gas emissions. EM on the other hand refers to Electro Mobility (or E-Mobility) which includes all electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell technology utilizing vehicles.
CPO – Charge Point Operator is a business that offers charging services for electric vehicle drivers. More specifically, charging point operator may be just looking after the charging point (CP) rather than owning full 100 % of it. Charging points are often gathered and registered under certain apps that help EV drivers find them. One of these apps is Hubject which operates in Europe. At times CPO might be used to refer to a Charging Point Owner.
CPNO – Charging Point Network Operator. This is a subset of EMOs. A CPNO runs a network of charging points and is responsible for maintenance, service and supply. Essentially they are looking after the network so it works for EV drivers. CPNOs sometimes white label their services for e.g. EV charging service brands, municipalities, or other companies. Some CPNOs are also EV charging service brands in their own right. Our electric vehicle chargers can be branded for any CPNO or company that wishes to show their green values to the world. The chargers can be equipped with stickers (with your logo on) or be entirely colour coded to proudly present your brand and grab attention of EV drivers.
EVSP – Electric Vehicle Service Provider is a company or organization that provides consumers (ie electric car drivers) with EV charging services. Many EVSPs trust and use our EV chargers to offer electric car drivers with quality service and effortless charging experience.
CPSO – Charging Point Services Operator. Another subset of EMOs. This is not widely used term today, but it may become useful in the future. CPSO refers to a supplier of white label services. This differs from a CPNO which may have a consumer-facing brand of its own.
CPM – Charging Point Manager is the company/organization that manages a charging point, also known as the CP. They might provide the charging point with remote controlled software that reduces the need for human labour and makes charging easier for the actual electric vehicle owner. One way to manage charging stations is the Ensto EV manager. Systems like this can turn the EV charger ON/OFF remotely, collect charging data for business optimization, attribute charging cost to a certain EV driver, associate a named charger (or charger ID) with a certain hotel room and its customers… and much more. For charging point managers, it is good idea to invest in their backend software and demand much from it, so the business operations flow smoothly for both the customer and manager as well.
DSO – Distribution System Operator is a company or actual person that is providing and maintaining electricity or gas distribution system. In other words, DSO is that part of EV world who takes care that CPs (charging point) have the electricity to fill your electric car battery full.
TSO – Transmission System Operator is a company/organization transporting natural gas or electrical power by fixed infrastructure. This could mean energy transmission lines or pipelines transporting gas from one place to another. They are similar to distribution system operators (DSO) as the fixed infrastructure makes sure that charging points (CP) have electricity to power your EV battery with electricity.
GENERAL TERMS RELATED TO EV
You consider yourself an EV enthusiast? Our you wish to join the EV discussions online? Then these words and abbreviations are what you use frequently with your likeminded EV pals. This section is the perfect place to start widening your day-to-day EV vocabulary in EV Wiki, welcome to the community.
ICE’d – Getting ICE’d is to have a non-EV car (with old-fashioned Internal Combustion Engine) to park on a charging bay reserved for electric vehicles. Parking in the right bay and getting ICEd in charging bays is part of the new social etiquette that the driving community is learning. You may see ICE’d also in the form of ICEing.
RANGE – The distance you can travel on pure electric power before the EV battery requires a recharge.
Range Anxiety – The anxious feeling that arises when you feel you might not have enough battery power to reach your destination or a certain charge point operator (CPO). This term will most likely vanish from the public consciousness once the EV charging networks expand and more powerful car batteries are developed. Then there is no more need to worry about your EV range, as you can charge when ever and where ever you want. But untill we have enough charging points (CP) you should prepare.
Wells-to-Wells – This is a way to measure the emissions release of a car during its entire life cycle, beginning from the fuel production and distribution to the actual consumption of the vehicle.
CP – Charging point is a location where electric vehicles can be plugged in and get charged. These can be at home, at work, or in publicly accessible locations. For your home and workplace chargers we have an awesome resource to grab which is our free webinar on how to earn with your EV charger. You can see it here.
SOC – State of Charge. Refers to a display that shows you the remaining battery level of your electric car in percentages.
Li-Ion – This is commonly used battery type and stands for Lithium Ion.
A – Ampere is the unit that measures passing electric charge.
kW – Kilowatt is a unit of electric power.
kWh – Kilowatt hour is a unit of kWs in electrical capacity.
RFID – Radio Frequency Identification is a way of identifying a person who holds an RFID (these are often utilized in credit cards or customer loyalty cards). As a business owner you can use RFID in your company’s EV chargers, so that only customers (or employees) with loyalty cards may load their battery for free. The additional business model is to charge a fee based on charged energy.
With RFID you can also collect shopping and EV charging data from customers and people that charge their electric vehicles at your location. With data gathered by RFID you can optimize your business operations to better suit the customer. For example, it has been documented that electric vehicle owners spend 35 % more time on the locations where they can charge the electric car battery. If you are interested in finding EV charging solution to support your business model, download this free guide.
GHG – Greenhouse Gases are gasses which when released to the atmosphere contribute to greenhouse effect. Replacing traditional gas powered cars with EVs is one way to advance our progress to greenhouse gas free society, as pure electricity powered vehicles provide us with more versatile ways to power our cars. This of course, as long as the produced electricity is not generated by GHG releasing power plants.
V2G – Vehicle to Grid is a term describing the connection between an electric car and grid. Often it is used to describe electric vehicle transmitting electricity back to the grid. What this means is EVs acting as “battery packs” to aid and support local energy grids in times of electricity shortages. With this technology you may connect your electric car to the grid and possibly earn money with it by selling electricity. To learn more on this opportunity, see this video guide.
V2H – Vehicle to Home is a connection between an EV and house. This way your electric vehicle may support your own home by working as a “back up battery” in times of power shortages. We cover this topic in our free webinar recording on Home Charging. You can view the webinar recording and learn on V2H here.
V2V – Vehicle to Vehicle means that an EV is connected to another vehicle. This may prove itself handy at times of running out of power on the road. You, or some other helpful electric car driver can fill the empty EV battery by powering it up with electricity. So, as you can see, V2V is quite similar to the technology used in older internal combustion engine (ICE) gas powered cars. The big difference here is that traditional cars need less electricity transferred as they mainly use it to turn on the engine. So, remember that electric vehicles need more electricity as they consume it to run the entire car.
G2V – Grid to Vehicle is a widely used term meant to describe the flow of energy from grid to electric vehicle. It is often used to describe the relation between SMART grids and an EVs.