CharIN North America Issues Call for Partners to Establish Industry-Led EV/EVSE Testing Sites across the U.S.

CharIN is the largest global alliance of EV and EVSE manufacturers of hardware and software vendors dedicated to realizing the goals of universal charging standards using CCS, MCS, and ISO 15118. With over 60 members now headquartered in the United States along with many other global members moving operations to the United States, demand for interoperability and conformance testing is quickly outstripping the supply offered by CharIN’s bi-annual testing events, which have been hosted for over seven years in North America and globally.  

As such, CharIN is officially launching a major campaign to establish between two to four permanent testing facilities within the next two years that would provide the latest-and-greatest in EVSE hardware and software for any EV manufacturer to use year-round. Further, these sites would continue to host CharIN Testivals to encourage peer-to-peer learning, networking, and improvement of the charging experience through alignment among EV and EVSE engineering teams with the goal of improving the customer experience and reliability. 

Realizing that it takes a village to establish and maintain this ambitious plan, CharIN is soliciting for partners to support the development of these sites, including but not limited to: 

In exchange, partners may receive: 

CharIN is currently evaluating private and public sources of funding for these facilities and intends to leverage state and federal grants where possible to reduce participant access fees. Partners are expected to support grant application development activities and support cost-sharing requirements where necessary. Two opportunities that CharIN is exploring include: 

CharIN believes that all industry participants should have access to reliable and affordable testing to ensure products going to market are consumer-friendly and the public charging experience is flawless and simple. Our goal for the testing sites is to serve as a resource for the broader industry to advance our shared mutual goal of fully interoperable charging using open standards.  

All interested parties should complete a CharIN Testing Facility Partner Interest Form no later than June 15:

Invited participants will be invited to a kick-off planning meeting in the second half of June. 

For specific questions, please contact CharIN staff at northamerica@charin.global. 

About CharIN Inc.   

The Charging Interface Initiative (CharIN) Inc. serves as a leading industry association bringing CharIN’s global approach to decarbonization through the electrification of North American transport. Convening together industrywide e-mobility stakeholders including automakers, charging station manufacturers, component suppliers, energy providers, government officials, and grid operators, our organization assists members in coordinating, advancing, and advocating for interoperability across electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Driving forward the widely-adopted Combined Charging System (CCS) and the Megawatt Charging System (MCS) platforms, CharIN works to ensure all electric vehicles – from light-duty passenger cars to freight trucks, e-ferries, ships, and planes – can work seamlessly with available charging stations and services. CharIN serves as a pivotal, unified voice for industry-standard, interoperable charging technologies and best practices, working with federal, state, and local regulatory agencies and policymakers to unleash innovation and encourage the rapid adoption of electric vehicles in municipal, commercial, and private use.