Who issues Plug & Charge certificates?

Certificate authorities that operate V2G roots, with trust lists that let several roots work together. CharIN coordinates governance but does not operate a PKI.

Explained in

Plug & Charge · Stop 04Who issues the certificates?Root certificate authorities, providers, manufacturers and operators: the public key infrastructure behind Plug & Charge, and why several roots have to trust each other.

There is not one single root for Plug & Charge. CharIN, the industry association behind the combined charging system, does not operate PKI systems itself; it handed its V2G PKI root to Irdeto for operation in 2024 and coordinates the governance of a multi-PKI architecture for Europe, including work with the PKI subgroup of the EU Sustainable Transport Forum in 2025.

From “Several roots, one market”, stop 04

Terms

  1. Plug & ChargeThe car identifies itself with a certificate when plugged in, so no card or app is needed.
  2. PKIPublic key infrastructure: certificate authorities, their roots and the rules by which certificates are issued, checked and revoked.
  3. Trust listA list of root authorities that cars and chargers accept, so certificate chains from different authorities work together.
  4. V2GVehicle to grid: the car feeds energy into the public grid; because one car's effect is small, many cars are usually pooled by an aggregator.
  1. How does Plug & Charge work?The car carries a contract certificate and presents it to the charger over the cable. The backend checks it, and charging starts without a card or app.
  2. Why does Plug & Charge not work at every charger?Car, charger, backend, contract and trust all have to support it. If one is missing, the session starts with a card or app instead.
  3. What is ISO 15118-20?The second generation of ISO 15118, published in 2022. It adds bidirectional power transfer, wireless communication and automatic connection; a 2026 amendment adds megawatt charging and grid services.
  4. What is in a Plug & Charge certificate?A subject with the eMAID, an issuer, a validity period, a public key and the issuer's signature, chained through the provider's sub-CAs to a V2G root the charger trusts. The deep dive prints one chain and the four checks the charger and its backend run on it.
  1. CharIN: Plug & Charge at CharIN: standardised and interoperable. https://www.charin.global/technology/plug-charge/. Checked 13 Oct 2026.