In-depth Application and Innovative Practice of Industrial Routers in the Networking Solution for New Energy Charging Stations
As the global stock of new energy vehicles surpasses 200 million, the construction of charging infrastructure networks has entered a critical development phase. According to data from the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, as of the third quarter of 2023, the number of public charging stations nationwide had reached 2.462 million, marking a 50.5% year-on-year increase. Amidst this wave of "new infrastructure" for charging facilities, the quality of network communication has emerged as a core factor influencing the operational efficiency of charging stations. Leveraging their high reliability, strong adaptability, and intelligent management capabilities, industrial routers are reshaping the networking architecture of new energy charging stations, driving a qualitative upgrade from "available" to "user-friendly" for the industry.
Traditional charging stations often rely on 4G modem or wired broadband for networking, which is prone to signal degradation in complex electromagnetic environments. Real-world testing by a charging operator in the Yangtze River Delta region revealed a disconnection rate of up to 15% in scenarios such as underground parking garages and industrial parks, directly resulting in an over 8% loss of charging orders.
The decentralized deployment of charging stations lacks a unified management platform, necessitating on-site troubleshooting by maintenance personnel and incurring an average annual maintenance cost of 2,000 yuan per station. A provincial operator managing over 10,000 charging terminals faces direct annual economic losses exceeding 3 million yuan due to network failures.
Unencrypted communication protocols and open port management make charging stations potential targets for hacker attacks. In 2022, State Grid security monitoring indicated that charging facilities nationwide suffered over 100,000 cyberattacks per week on average, with an increasing risk of data breaches.
With the promotion of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology, charging stations need to support bidirectional power exchange and more complex data processing. Traditional networking solutions struggle to meet future demands in terms of bandwidth, computing power, and protocol compatibility.
Industrial routers with a wide operating temperature range of -40°C to 85°C, IP65 protection rating, and EMC Level 4 protection can operate stably in harsh environments such as humidity, high temperatures, and strong electromagnetic interference. Taking the USR-G806w as an example, its built-in industrial-grade communication module and watchdog mechanism enable 7×24 hours of fault-free operation, with a reconnection time of less than 3 seconds after disconnection.
Supporting multi-link backup including 5G/4G/wired/Wi-Fi, industrial routers employ intelligent algorithms for link quality monitoring and automatic switching. Testing by an operator demonstrated that adopting a multi-link redundancy solution increased network availability to 99.99%, reducing annual fault time from 87.6 hours to 0.87 hours.
Industrial routers integrated with ARM Cortex-A55 quad-core processors can locally process real-time services such as charging metering and order settlement, reducing cloud interaction latency. The USR-G806w, equipped with 1GB of memory and 8GB of storage space, supports Docker container deployment, enabling flexible expansion of applications such as V2G control and demand response.
Employing national cryptographic SM2/SM4 encryption algorithms and IPSec VPN tunnels, industrial routers establish encrypted communication links from terminals to the cloud. The built-in firewall of the USR-G806w supports ACL access control, DDoS protection, and intrusion detection, effectively mitigating network threats such as man-in-the-middle attacks and port scans.
Adopting a distributed architecture of "core data center + edge gateway," high-performance industrial routers are deployed as convergence nodes in regional centers, while lightweight edge gateways are deployed at charging stations for terminal access. This architecture controls data transmission latency within 50ms, meeting real-time billing and power control requirements.
Dynamic bandwidth allocation based on business type prioritizes critical services such as charging transactions and equipment monitoring. Testing data shows that in a 10M bandwidth environment, this solution increases transaction success rates from 92% to 99.7% and reduces equipment status reporting latency by 80%.
Through SNMP/TR069 protocols, devices can be configured and firmware upgraded in batches, while the remote diagnostic function of the USR-G806w allows maintenance personnel to monitor device status, network signal strength, and traffic usage in real-time. After implementation by an operator, on-site inspection frequency decreased by 60%, and single-station maintenance costs dropped by 45%.
Industrial routers can serve as intelligent interfaces for interaction between charging stations and the power grid, supporting rapid issuance and execution feedback of demand response instructions. In a demonstration project in Jiangsu, millisecond-level power regulation achieved through routers increased charging station revenue from participating in grid peak shaving by 30%.
At a large commercial complex charging station in Shenzhen, USR-G806w industrial routers were deployed to centrally manage 200 charging terminals. Dual-link backup with 5G and wired connections ensured 99.995% network availability during peak hours. Edge computing capabilities supported local order processing, reducing single transaction response time to 200ms.
A service area on the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway adopted a solar-powered + industrial router networking solution, operating stably at -30°C. The router's built-in battery management module monitors the energy storage system status in real-time, connecting surrounding charging stations via LoRa wireless technology to establish a low-power wide-area coverage network.
In a residential area in Shanghai, industrial routers supporting the IEEE 802.15.4g standard were deployed to establish interconnection channels between charging stations and home energy management systems. Through dynamic pricing strategies, users were guided to charge during off-peak hours, reducing peak transformer load by 40% and lowering residents' electricity costs by 15%.
With the maturation of the 5G-Advanced (5G-A) standard, ultra-low latency (<1ms) and highly reliable communication (99.9999%) will become a reality. Industrial routers need to integrate Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) functionality to meet deterministic communication requirements in vehicle-grid interaction scenarios.
Machine learning-based network quality prediction models can proactively detect link degradation trends and automatically adjust parameters. The AI network management system developed by USR Labs has achieved a 92% accuracy rate in fault prediction and a 5-fold increase in configuration optimization efficiency.
Currently, there are over 30 proprietary standards for charging station communication protocols, requiring industrial routers to support multiple protocol conversions such as Modbus TCP, IEC 61850, and OCPP. The industry urgently needs to establish unified communication interface standards to reduce networking complexity.
With the advancement of the "dual carbon" goals, power consumption management of industrial routers has become a focus. The USR-G806w, employing Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) and low-power sleep modes, has a typical power consumption of only 8W, a 60% reduction compared to traditional solutions.
Operating temperature range: -40°C to 75°C is preferred for industrial applications
Protection rating: IP65 or higher for outdoor environments
Interface configuration: At least 4 LAN ports + 2 RS485/RS232 ports
Certification standards: Must comply with mandatory certifications such as CE/FCC/3C
Small charging stations: Single router + switch networking
Medium-sized charging fields: Core router + edge gateway two-tier architecture
Large-scale charging networks: SD-WAN controller + industrial router cluster
It is recommended to establish a "cloud-pipe-end" three-tier operation and maintenance system:
Cloud: Deploy a network management platform for centralized monitoring
Pipe: Adopt SD-WAN technology for intelligent link scheduling
End: Utilize the built-in logging system of industrial routers for fault self-diagnosis
With the deep integration of industrial routers with technologies such as digital twins and blockchain, charging station networking solutions are evolving from simple communication pipelines to intelligent IoT platforms. It is expected that by 2025, the proportion of intelligent charging stations supporting vehicle-grid interaction (V2G) will exceed 40%, with industrial routers playing an irreplaceable role as core communication hubs in the construction of the energy Internet.
In this intelligent transformation of charging infrastructure, selecting industrial router products with forward-looking technological architectures is crucial. New-generation industrial communication devices such as the USR-G806w are setting new benchmarks for new energy charging station network construction with their exceptional reliability, flexible scalability, and intelligent management capabilities, driving the industry towards greater efficiency, security, and sustainability.
