July 25th 2017

The European Network for Cyber Security and ElaadNL team up to protect EV charging

The European Network for Cyber Security (ENCS) and ElaadNL today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). The two organisations will work together to protect electric vehicle (EV) smart charging infrastructure from cyber security threats by developing effective security measures and regulation, industry-leading cyber security practices and common standards for EV charging.

As a membership organisation dedicated to smart grid cyber security, ENCS will contribute technical information and expertise on cyber security in the energy domain. This will be married with ElaadNL’s expertise as the knowledge and innovation centre for charging infrastructure and smart charging in the Netherlands.

“In the Netherlands, we have one of the biggest EV markets in the world, with more than 100,000 EV’s and even more charge points.’ says Onoph Caron, Director at ElaadNL. “Now, if you imagine connecting all those charge points to the smart grid, you can start to appreciate how important proper cyber security is. Working with ENCS helps us to ensure that security.”

Under the terms of the MoU, ENCS and ElaadNL will share expertise, information and resources in order to benefit their respective members. From this, ElaadNL will gain technical expertise and practical solutions to protect its distribution systems operator (DSOs) members, while ENCS will expand its expert resource pool and enlarge its trusted information and knowledge-sharing community.

“We have been working with ElaadNL for some time now and it has always been a fruitful experience,” says Michael John, Director, Consulting Services at ENCS. “The logical next step was to formalise our partnership, so that our members are assured that EV charging cyber security is in safe hands. As EVs become a significant part of the smart grid in the Netherlands and Europe, the standards and expertise we develop together will be vital in keeping charging infrastructure safe.”

The partnership builds on previous collaboration between the two organisations on EV charging cyber security requirements, as well as the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP). You can read more about the work here, and the results of the project here.