Cellular routers serve as the "nerve center" for the networked transformation of new energy charging stations.
As the number of new energy vehicles grows at an average annual rate of 50%, charging stations have evolved from simple power supply equipment to intelligent energy terminals. According to data from the National Energy Administration, China added 3.386 million charging infrastructure units in 2023, a 30.8% year-on-year increase, with public charging stations accounting for over 40%. Behind this infrastructure revolution lies a critical question: How can we build a charging network that is highly reliable, low-latency, and easy to manage? Cellular routers, with their industrial-grade design, intelligent networking capabilities, and edge computing features, are emerging as the core hub for the networked transformation of charging stations.
The charging transaction process involves multiple coordinated steps, including billing, authentication, and power control. For DC fast charging, the entire process from plugging in to initiating charging must be completed within 500 ms, with network communication latency controlled below 100 ms. Traditional 4G solutions often experience latency fluctuations exceeding 300 ms due to factors like base station handovers and signal interference, leading to transaction failure rates as high as 5%-8%.
Charging stations are predominantly deployed outdoors, enduring extreme temperatures ranging from -30°C to 65°C, wind forces up to Level 8, and salt spray corrosion. According to statistics from an operator in Northeast China, the failure rate of ordinary commercial routers in winter is three times that in summer, with an average downtime of 4.2 hours per repair, directly impacting daily charging volumes by 1,200 kWh.
Charging station networks carry sensitive information such as user payment details and equipment status data while directly controlling power outputs of hundreds of kilowatts. In 2023, State Grid security monitoring revealed that charging facilities across China faced over 200 APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) attacks per week, with hackers capable of causing equipment damage or even fires by tampering with charging parameters.
Cellular routers feature all-metal enclosures, fanless cooling designs, and IP67 certification, withstanding immersion in 1 meter of water and drops from 1 meter. Take the USR-G806w as an example: its built-in industrial-grade communication module supports operation in temperatures ranging from -40°C to 85°C, maintaining stable performance in the high-temperature, high-humidity environments of Hainan and the sandy, dusty conditions of Xinjiang's Gobi Desert.
Through intelligent backup across 5G/4G/wired/Wi-Fi links, cellular routers achieve hybrid networking combining "hard switching + soft load balancing." When the primary link's signal strength drops to -105 dBm, the device automatically switches to a backup link within 200 ms while maintaining uninterrupted TCP connections. A logistics park test showed that network availability improved from 99.2% to 99.997% after adopting a four-link redundancy solution.
Cellular routers equipped with ARM Cortex-A72 dual-core processors can locally process real-time tasks such as charging metering and order settlement. For DC fast charging stations, edge computing reduces billing response times from 800 ms (cloud interaction) to 150 ms while cutting cloud traffic consumption by 30%. The USR-G806w, with 1 GB DDR4 memory and 8 GB eMMC storage, supports Docker containerization for flexible expansion of applications like V2G control and demand response.
Cellular routers employ a dual security mechanism combining hardware encryption and software protection:
Shanghai Hongqiao Transportation Hub's charging station deployed 200 DC fast chargers using a distributed architecture of core switches and cellular routers. Each USR-G806w connects 16 charging terminals, with 5G+wired dual-link backup ensuring 99.99% network availability during peak hours (over 80% simultaneous online rate). Edge computing enables local order processing, handling 12,000 daily transactions without a single billing error caused by network latency.
A charging station on the Beijing-Harbin Expressway uses solar power and cellular routers for networking. The device's built-in battery management module monitors the energy storage system in real time, while LoRa wireless connects eight nearby AC chargers to form a low-power, wide-area network. In -35°C cold, dynamic power adjustment keeps the router's power consumption below 6 W, ensuring 72 hours of continuous operation.
A smart community in Hangzhou deployed cellular routers supporting the IEEE 802.15.4g standard to interconnect charging stations with Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS). The router's built-in AI algorithm analyzes user electricity consumption habits, automatically adjusting charging power during peak grid load periods. During the pilot, the community transformer's peak load dropped by 35%, resident electricity costs decreased by 18%, and participants in demand response programs received over 200,000 yuan in electricity subsidies.
With the rollout of 5G-Advanced (5G-A) standards, ultra-low latency (<1 ms) and ultra-high reliability (99.9999%) communication will become a reality. Cellular routers must integrate Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) functions, using techniques like time synchronization and traffic scheduling to meet deterministic communication demands in vehicle-grid interaction scenarios. Laboratory tests show that TSN technology can control transmission jitter of charging power adjustment commands within ±1 μs.
Machine learning-based network quality prediction models can proactively detect link degradation trends and automatically adjust parameters. USR Labs' AI network management system analyzes historical data to build signal attenuation models, achieving 92% fault prediction accuracy and a 5x improvement in configuration optimization efficiency at a Shenzhen charging station. For example, when detecting sustained 4G signal degradation, the system automatically prioritizes the 5G link.
Driven by "dual carbon" goals, power consumption management has become a critical metric for cellular routers. The USR-G806w, featuring Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) and low-power sleep modes, operates at just 8 W—60% lower than traditional solutions. Its built-in energy management module monitors device power consumption in real time, reducing nighttime standby power to 1.2 W through intelligent sleep strategies.
| Scenario Size | Recommended Solution | Advantage Analysis |
| Small charging stations (<10 terminals) | Single router + switch networking | Low cost, rapid deployment |
| Medium charging sites (10-50 terminals) | Core router + edge gateway two-tier architecture | High scalability, centralized management |
| Large charging networks (>50 terminals) | SD-WAN controller + cellular router cluster | Intelligent scheduling, automatic disaster recovery |
As cellular routers integrate with digital twins, blockchain, and other technologies, charging station networking solutions are evolving from simple communication pipelines to intelligent IoT platforms. By 2026, over 50% of smart charging stations are expected to support vehicle-grid interaction (V2G), with cellular routers playing a pivotal role in energy trading, carbon footprint tracking, and virtual power plants.
In this intelligent transformation of charging infrastructure, next-generation industrial communication devices like the USR-G806w are setting new benchmarks for new energy charging station networks with their exceptional reliability, flexible scalability, and intelligent management capabilities. They are not merely bridges connecting devices to the cloud but will become the "nerve centers" of green energy ecosystems, driving the industry toward greater efficiency, security, and sustainability.
