Making Peace with the EV Industry as a Software Engineer — Part 1

NOTE: This will be a series of insightful articles where we will meticulously explore every facet of the EV ecosystem, delving into the intricate system designs of each component, and examining their network connections. Stay tuned for a deep dive into the world of Electric Vehicles.

This article aims to provide you with a comfortable bird’s-eye view of the entire EV system, helping you become familiar with its terminology and understand its holistic functionality.

Hello, I’m Siddharth, a senior software engineer at GLIDA. Here at GLIDA we are building next gen solution for the EV charging. My primary responsibilities involve managing the backend and addressing performance issues. Being entrenched in the software industry, I’ve often found it challenging to navigate the complexities of the EV sector and its unique terminology. This has inspired me to share my experiences and insights in this post.

Now, let’s take a closer look at an EV charging scenario and explore the myriad components that play crucial roles:

An EV

An EV (Electric Vehicle) Electric Vehicles encompass a myriad of components, but our focus today is the Battery Management System (BMS). This embedded system shoulders the responsibility of:

• Monitoring the battery’s health
• Providing essential battery protection
• Estimating the battery’s operational state
• Continuously optimizing battery performance
• Reporting operational status to external devices

Diving deeper into the realm of BMS not only reveals its significance but also underscores the critical role it plays in ensuring the seamless operation of an electric vehicle.

Charger

A Charger An electric vehicle charger acts as a vital bridge between the EV’s BMS and the Charger Management System (CMS). The Charger facilitates the process of supplying electric power to recharge the EV’s battery, utilizing various charging infrastructures such as home units, public stations, and fast-charging stations. In our exploration, we’ll focus on the embedded system within the charger, operating as a server on a push model (details to be covered in the upcoming article). This system pushes crucial data to the CMS, including the State of Charge (SOC) and other necessary information, enabling the CMS to present it to end-users through the app. Unveiling the software within the charger not only sheds light on its critical role in the EV ecosystem but also provides a deeper understanding of the interplay between hardware and software in this dynamic field.

CMS

CMS (Charger Management System) is a pivotal piece of software serving as the admin portal for all chargers. It boasts four fundamental properties: CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete).

Create:

• Involves creating charger details within the CMS.
• Establishes a new record for a charger in the system.

Read:

• Encompasses retrieving and viewing charger details stored in the CMS.
• Allows users to access information about the chargers registered in the system.

Update:

• Pertains to modifying existing charger details or pricing within the CMS.
• Enables users to make adjustments or updates to the information associated with a charger.

Delete:

• Involves removing charger details from the CMS.
• Permits the elimination of outdated or unnecessary records of chargers.

Establishing a connection to the charger is a fascinating challenge, involving technologies such as websockets for bidirectional communication and advanced tools like Kafka and SQS for distributed queues. Future articles will delve into these technologies, offering detailed insights into their applications within the CMS. Understanding the dynamics of CMS not only provides a glimpse into its interesting functionalities but also highlights the complexity involved in managing a network of chargers, making it a compelling and challenging aspect of EV technology.

App

Finally, after the charger communicates with the CMS, the app — acting as a client — pulls data from the CMS server. This data is then presented to the end user, completing the charging information cycle. The app’s role in this process not only emphasizes its significance in user experience but also introduces the integration of software elements within the broader EV framework. Further exploration of the app’s functionalities, user interfaces, and integration strategies will be covered in upcoming articles, offering a comprehensive understanding of its role in enhancing the overall EV experience.

In the subsequent articles of this series, we’ll dive even deeper into the intricate details of each component, unraveling the complexities and innovations that drive the EV industry forward. We will also cover the system design of the CMS. Stay tuned for a comprehensive exploration of EV technology from a software engineer’s perspective.

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To know more about me visit https://siddharthsabron.in .