Product Overview
ChargeLink is a vendor-neutral EV charging test platform for charger (EVSE) developers, vehicle communication controller (EVCC) and on-board-charger developers, validation teams, HIL laboratories and factory end-of-line teams. It plays one side of the charging communication against your device under test (DUT), connects it to simulated or physical electrical behaviour, and records traceable verdicts.
Roles ChargeLink can play
In every session ChargeLink plays one role. Pick it by what your DUT is:
| Your DUT | ChargeLink role | What ChargeLink does | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| A vehicle, an EVCC, an on-board charger or a vehicle simulator | ChargeLink as charger (EVSE/SECC) | Answers SDP discovery on UDP 15118, accepts the vehicle's V2GTP connection over TCP (TLS where the protocol requires it) and runs the charger side of the ISO 15118-20, ISO 15118-2 or DIN 70121 session. For ISO 15118-20 DC EIM on the NI VeriStand bench, every response is computed from the live session and the plant model. For IEC 61851-23/-24 System A (CHAdeMO), ChargeLink is the station on the CAN bus. | ChargeLink as Charger |
| A charger, an SECC or a charger simulator | ChargeLink as vehicle (EV/EVCC) | Discovers the charger through SDP or connects directly by IPv6 address and TCP port, probes transport and mutual TLS, and runs the full ISO 15118-20 DC EIM session with a simulated battery and EV values from a case file. For CHAdeMO, ChargeLink is the EV on the CAN bus. | ChargeLink as Vehicle |
The charger role can be plant-coupled: it exchanges commands and measurements with an NI VeriStand plant model, so that protocol decisions react to simulated electrical behaviour. The test controller (campaigns, verdicts and evidence) works with either role. To run ChargeLink as charger against ChargeLink as vehicle, for an installation check, a demo or CI regression, see Self-test without a device under test.
Never connect two active power-control owners to the same physical bench without an explicit ownership and safety-interlock design. ChargeLink's plant coupling has one owner per session and fails to a safe state (zero current, contactor open) on watchdog expiry.
What it does
| Capability | What you get | Where it is documented |
|---|---|---|
| ChargeLink as charger | The charger-side (SECC) listener for your vehicle or EVCC: SDP, V2GTP over TCP or TLS, and the ISO 15118-20, ISO 15118-2 or DIN 70121 message sequence, with validated reference responses per message or, for ISO 15118-20 DC EIM with a plant model, responses computed from the live session and the plant measurements. | ChargeLink as Charger |
| ChargeLink as vehicle | The vehicle side for your charger or SECC, with a battery model: SDP or direct TCP, a transport and mutual-TLS probe, and the full ISO 15118-20 DC EIM session. | ChargeLink as Vehicle |
| Protocol test campaigns | Protocol-first test discovery (chargelink test) with 797 ISO 15118-2 and 383 ISO 15118-20 executable test cases, licensed conformance packages, PICS/PIXIT generation, campaign planning, execution and verdict reports. | Test Workflow |
| Deterministic simulation | Seeded paired EVSE/EVCC simulations for ISO 15118-20 (10 scenarios), ISO 15118-2 and DIN 70121 (12 scenarios) and TLS/PKI/Plug & Charge (12 campaigns) with replay verification. | Deterministic Simulation |
| Evidence | Every run gets a directory with manifest.json (SHA-256 per file), JSON-lines traces, EXI captures and reports, plus integrity verification, redaction and support-bundle preparation. | Trace, Evidence and Reports |
| Integration API | A gRPC server (chargelink.integration.v1, 15 services) with a canonical dictionary of 67 transport-neutral signals, session lifecycle, simulation time control, SIL/HIL/XIL, campaigns, evidence, factory and enterprise services. | gRPC Integration API |
| NI VeriStand coupling | An owner host that couples the ISO 15118-20 DC EIM charger to a VeriStand plant model (FMI 2.0 FMU), with operator command/status channels and a safe start-up profile, run by the scripts in the charger folder of the kit. | NI VeriStand Bench |
| Licensing | Offline license files (.cllic) with entitlements per role, protocol and test package; activation, verification and deactivation from the CLI. | Licensing |
What the customer package contains
The package is a ZIP archive that you extract; there is no installer. The full layout is in Install and Activate. The kit has a charger\ and a vehicle\ folder.
charger\bin\chargelink.exe— the command-line tool with the embedded gRPC server.vehicle\chargelink.exeis the same binary; either copy runs either role.- The NI VeriStand bench: the host executables
ChargeLink.Veristand.XilHost.exeandChargeLink.Veristand.NativeClientBroker.exe, the VeriStand system definition with the plant FMU, the bench configuration and the charger-side operator scripts. - The vehicle-side launcher
vehicle\Start-Evcc.ps1and the EV case files invehicle\cases\. - Installation and operation notes, third-party notices, an SBOM and a SHA-256 manifest of every file.
Not included: certificates or keys, NI software, .NET runtimes, ASAM assemblies and standards text.
How ChargeLink runs
What this means for you as an operator:
- Both roles, the test controller and the gRPC server run in one executable,
chargelink.exe. It needs no separate runtime installation. The NI VeriStand bench adds its own host executables, described in NI VeriStand Bench. - All state is file-based under two roots you choose (
--runtime-root,--artifact-root). Nothing is written to the registry. - Every JSON result carries
okandexit_code; a failure returns one diagnostic with a stable error code. See Monitoring, JSON and Exit Codes. - Every artifact carries a
claim_boundaryfield that states what the evidence does and does not prove.
Protocols at a glance
| Standard | Transport | ChargeLink as charger (your vehicle is the DUT) | ChargeLink as vehicle (your charger is the DUT) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 15118-20 (DC, AC, EIM) | IPv6 SDP + TCP + TLS 1.3 mutual + V2GTP + EXI | DC EIM, Scheduled and Dynamic control mode, plant-coupled on the NI VeriStand bench (PreCharge, PowerDelivery and the DC charge loop react to the plant). DC and AC reference responder without a plant. | Full DC EIM session (SDP or direct TCP, TLS 1.3 mutual) with the EV values of a case file; transport and TLS probe. |
| MCS (ISO 15118-20 over 10BASE-T1S) | 10BASE-T1S: IPv6 SDP + TCP + TLS 1.3 mutual + V2GTP + EXI; coupler link for the simulated CE/ID signals | ISO 15118-20 DC with the MCS energy service, EIM, Scheduled control mode, plant-coupled on the NI VeriStand bench. In this release, the MCS charger connects to a ChargeLink vehicle. | The same session from the vehicle side. In this release, the MCS vehicle connects to a ChargeLink charger. Connector signals are simulated. |
| ISO 15118-2 (DC, AC, EIM) | IPv6 SDP + TCP + optional TLS 1.2/1.3 + V2GTP + EXI | Reference responder for DC EIM and AC EIM, plain or TLS. | One DC EIM session over TCP or TLS 1.2 (iso2-evcc). In this release, it connects to a ChargeLink charger; against your charger, the TLS probe checks transport and TLS. |
| DIN 70121 (DC) | IPv6 SDP + TCP + V2GTP + EXI | Reference responder; it answers requests that match the reference request encodings (see the runbook). | One DC session over TCP (din-evcc). In this release, it connects to a ChargeLink charger. |
| IEC 61851-23/-24 System A (CHAdeMO) | CAN: virtual CAN hub over TCP or a Kvaser CANlib channel; plant link over TCP | Station role with a simulated plant. In this release, the station connects to a ChargeLink EV. | EV role. In this release, the EV connects to a ChargeLink station. |
For other charging standards, contact DEVlink. The limits and requirements of each capability are in Capability Boundaries.
Version identity
| Identity | Documented value | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| CLI version | chargelink 0.5.0 | chargelink --version |
| Integration API | chargelink.integration.v1, version 1.8.0 | chargelink --json integration capabilities |
| Canonical signals | 67 | canonical_signal_count in the capabilities output |