Blockchain Based Billing System for Electric Vehicle and Charging Station

Research related to electric vehicles (EVs) is mainly focused on hardware such as battery charging method, and there is still a lack of software (service oriented) research such as billing system that needs to be developed realistically. The result of the charge measured in the charging EV can be different from the charge amount claimed to be charged in the charging station. This is because the charge is measured separately from each other using its smart meters. And if mechanical measurements are assumed to be accurate, it is possible to lie in one of the EV or charging station. Also, billing information can be manipulated. To prevent those problems, this paper proposes the blockchain based billing system. The EV and the charging station store the billing information in the blockchain after mutual authentication and prevent the modification. A blockchain is the system in which all nodes have the same ledger, therefore cannot be tampered with. This prevents a user from modifying the record after charging.

I. Introduction

With the need for environmentally green energy, supply of electric vehicles (EVs) is increasing in popularity. The spread of EVs led to the development of EV's battery charging technologies. Currently there are various charging methods in wired/wireless charging modes. EV charging technologies are evolving day by day [1], [2]. However, the development of the technologies is mainly performed in the hardware part of the charging field, and there is not yet a software study on the secure billing system which is essential. The present billing system is briefly performed in following process. The charging station requests payment to the credit card company with the billing information (i.e., EV user's card information, charging fee) provided by the EV user and charging station, after the charging station charged to the EV. At this time, the EV or charging station can provide fault information, which may result in invalid billing. For example, the charge profile measured at the EV can differ from the charge amount provided from the charging station. This can happen because EV and charging station measure the charge amount with their own measurement equipment. Therefore, the EV or charging station can intentionally manipulate the charging information, which can cause confusion in the contractual relationship between EV and charging station.