by Nathaniel Wong

The electric vehicle (EV) industry is overcoming challenges in order to improve the process of the charging network of EVs. Trust and security of electric vehicle-to-grid systems and hardware supply chains, was published in the Reliability Engineering & System Safety journal. It addresses the cybersecurity vulnerabilities of the EV charging grid by providing research and development to mitigate supply chain and EV charging cyber-attacks, and to advance the adoption of EV charging.

This report was a collaboration between Negin Moghadasi, Andrew Koch, Thomas L. Polmateer, and James H. Lambert, all of the Department of Engineering Systems and Environment, University of Virginia; David L. Slutzky, Department of Engineering and Society, University of Virginia; Zachary A. Collier, Department of Management, Radford University; and Mark C. Manasco, CCALS’ President and Executive Director. Slutzky is also president of Fermata Energy, and both Polmateer and Lambert are members of the Center for Hardware and Embedded Systems Security and Trust (CHEST). CHEST and the National Science Foundation also supported the study.

The work provides a framework to solve the most complex security challenges facing EV chargers and their network. The cybersecurity threats discussed in the paper include the supply chains and the operations of the embedded hardware devices for the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) infrastructure, vehicle charging stations, and network communications.

The paper has considered hybrid cybersecurity threats to the interests of system owners, operators, and users, addressing scenario-based preferences for rapidly advancing technologies.