Electromobility is no longer just about passenger cars. As more and more electric trucks, buses, and other heavy-duty vehicles hit the roads, one thing is becoming clear: Charging technologies must keep up. This is where the Megawatt Charging System (MCS) comes in. MCS is an international standard for high-power, conductive DC charging of large electric vehicles. It is designed to recharge huge battery packs within a reasonable time – at a charging rate of more than 1 MW. To this end, the MCS standard specifies currents of up to 3,000 A and voltages of up to 1,250 V, enabling a power level of up to 3.75 MW. Originally designed for heavy-duty commercial vehicles, its potential reaches far beyond – into aerospace, maritime, and agricultural applications. As with passenger car charging, smart communication between the electric vehicle (EV) and the charging station (electric vehicle supply equipment, EVSE) is also key for MCS. With MCS, this communication is based on the ISO 15118-20 protocol and the 10BASE-T1S Automotive Ethernet technology. Both technologies are supported by our Smart Charging Solution.
At the same time, the connection to the electrical infrastructure, or in other words, the power grid, is becoming increasingly important, especially in the context of MCS. To address this, the ISO 15118-20 communication protocol introduces a mode for load adjustment, known as dynamic charging. This mode enables the charging station to respond to current grid conditions. In contrast, the scheduled charging mode, already established in ISO 15118-2, prioritizes the vehicle demand.
The Task: Validating Communication in MCS Charging
To ensure reliable megawatt charging, the communication between the EV and the charging station must be thoroughly tested. In this use case, the focus is on testing the electric vehicle communication controller (EVCC) of a heavy-duty vehicle – such as an electric truck. To do this, the communication controller of the charging station (supply equipment communication controller, SECC) is simulated in a controlled test environment. This allows developers to validate and fine-tune the behavior of the EVCC during the charging process – without needing access to a real charging station.
Our Smart Charging Solution enables precise simulation and manipulation of the communication and the electrical interface between an EVCC and a SECC in an MCS setup.
The Challenges
For developers working on megawatt charging, testing the EVCC is a complex task. MCS communication involves complex protocols and technologies such as ISO 15118-20 and 10BASE-T1S with strict timing requirements and high data rates.
Real MCS charging stations are rarely available during early development, making it difficult to test under realistic conditions. In addition, ensuring interoperability with different EVSE configurations and simulating edge cases further increase complexity. Developers must simulate a wide range of charging behaviors, fault conditions, and edge cases to ensure robustness of their controllers. Without the right tools, these challenges can slow down development, increase costs, and delay time to market.
The dSPACE Solution
To meet the challenges of MCS testing, dSPACE offers a powerful, end-to-end solution for validating the related charging communication and the electrical interface. Our Smart Charging Solution enables developers to simulate and manipulate the communication and electrical interface between the EV and the charging station – without having to rely on a real charging infrastructure.
The typical test setup includes the Smart Charging Plug Simulator MCS, the DS5366 Smart Charging Interface, and a SCALEXIO HIL system. These systems emulate the SECC side of a Megawatt Charging System and provide the signals required to operate MCS. A ready-to-use ControlDesk layout simplifies experimentation with MCS-specific test cases. With this setup, our solution allows for realistic, reproducible test scenarios – even under fault conditions. In addition, our solution supports key charging features, such as Plug & Charge (PnC) as already described in ISO 15118-2, and 10BASE-T1S Automotive Ethernet as defined in ISO 15118-10, making it ideal for testing large electric vehicles that must charge quickly and safely at high power levels.
To support testing of charging communication in different ECU development stages, the dSPACE solution offers flexible handling of encryption: from TLS 1.3 encryption officially required by ISO 15118-20 to TLS 1.2 known from ISO 15118-2 or even test scenarios without encryption. Moreover, the dSPACE solution supports the scheduled charging mode as defined in ISO 15118-2 and ISO 15118-20, as well as the dynamic charging mode introduced with ISO 15118-20.
When it comes to real power, dSPACE also provides power-level charging test systems tailored for MCS.
With this end-to-end test solution, developers can accelerate their development process, ensure interoperability, and bring robust, future-proof MCS charging systems to market faster.
