How to Get ISO 15118-20 Certified: Testing Roadmap & Pitfalls

Getting an ISO 15118-20 implementation certified is a multi-stage process. Here's the roadmap, the documentation you'll need, and the failure modes that most often trip teams up.

Who Certifies

Industry certification for combined-charging-system (CCS) communication — including ISO 15118-20 features such as DC bidirectional power transfer — is coordinated through CharIN and accredited test labs, using standardized conformance test cases.

Step-by-Step Roadmap

1. Pre-compliance audit. Gap-analyze your implementation against the relevant interoperability guides and the applicable DC charging standards.
2. Conformance testing. Run the official message-level conformance test system.
3. Interoperability testing. Exercise your implementation against many peer implementations — for example at CharIN “Testival” events.
4. Security audit. Verify PKI handling, revocation/OCSP behavior, cipher-suite compliance, and secure key storage.
5. Field trial. Run an extended period of real-world operation without critical errors.

Common Failure Modes

• Powerline-communication timing violations.
• Clock drift on the charger causing certificate-validity errors.
• Incorrect handling of energy-level bounds during bidirectional discharge.

Documentation Checklist

• Test reports from an accredited (ISO/IEC 17025) lab.
• A security policy describing key storage and revocation.
• Firmware versions and checksums for reproducibility.

Fast-Track Tip

If your charger is based on an already-certified ISO 15118-2 design, a delta/regression report can reduce the amount of retesting required.