UL has opened its EV Charging Test Centre in Frankfurt/Neu-Isenburg.

The facility includes charging infrastructure components and functional safety testing and certification, as well as homologation services in one location.

UL notes the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (Acea) estimates at least 2.8m public EV charging ports will be needed by 2030 across Europe.

“With conducive EV policies and with public acceptance and use of electric vehicles on the rise, these factors point to the increasing need to charge more vehicles, charge them faster and charge them more conveniently; placing an increased focus on battery and charging performance and safety,” said UL Energy and Industrial Automation division GM and VP, Milan Dotlich.

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“UL’s investment in the Frankfurt EV charging test facility demonstrates our commitment to global markets as well as new and developing standards. It also equips us to better support municipal utility infrastructure, European EV charging companies and automotive OEMs to fast-track their project fulfilment; allowing them ultimately to quickly meet this rising demand.”

The UL EV Centre includes testing facilities addressing different types of charging used around the world:

  • AC cable assembly for regular household outlet
  • AC portable EV supply equipment with in-cable control and protection device
  • AC chargers with wall boxes and ground mounted chargers in residential or public space
  • DC charging wall boxes and stations up to 350 kW

And commonly used Levels in the US:

  • Level 1 and Level 2 for AC charging – up to 12 kW
  • DC Level 1 and 2 (known as Level 3) for DC fast charging – up to 350 kW

In addition, the new facility offers vehicle to grid (V2G) – up to 250kW – charging testing capabilities. V2G charging expands EVs into energy storage and distributed energy resource applications and allows EVs to integrate into the utility grid and serve as grid back-up power for home, buildings and other uses.

The facility offers EV simulators with full power capabilities for DC fast charger testing, bi-directional EV chargers, dual test bay scenarios and for servicing large commercial vehicles and ultrafast EV charging applications. The facility also provides capability in the local area to work directly with UL throughout every step of the testing and certification process – from sending prototypes to witnessing of testing and identifying construction related compliance issues before production.

As a third-party partner with experience in EV battery and charging standards in North America and internationally, UL is able to provide European OEMs with market access in the region.

“Many significant developments in electric vehicle charging are taking place globally and in Europe with demands from end users and new technological solutions pushing the infrastructure to do more and do it faster than before,” added UL regional VP for Europe Central-East and South, Mirko Bautz.

“This evolution is leading to new and innovative thinking, especially for safety requirements. The global acceptance of the UL Mark paired with dedicated local technical expertise and technical competency means that the European market now has a comprehensive test centre in Europe for safety, electrical and compliance testing towards UL certification of innovative EV charging products and systems.”

The UL EV Charging Test Centre in Germany is part of UL’s global network of EV testing laboratories located in China and the US. UL is also able to provide Global Market Access services for EV charging testing work in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and other emerging markets against the following regulatory standards and verifications:

  • International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standards
  • EN Standards to facilitate CE declaration
  • CHAdeMO
  • Energy Star Efficiency label