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GB/T 27930 China Charging Communication Standard Overview


  This blog shall take a look into the GB/T(China National Standard) charging standard, and mostly focus on the communication and charging sequence for DC charging system.
Similar to the Society of Automotive Engineers(SAE), the International Electro-technical Commission(IEC), or the International Standards Organization(ISO) which provide standard specification to address general, physical, and signaling requirements for electric vehicle charging system.
GB/T set of standards also address above charging functionalities for both AC and DC fast charging infrastructure used in China:

  • GB/T 18487 provides general requirements for conductive charging systems (both AC & DC) ⇔ IEC 61851.
  • GB/T 20234 provides physical requirements for connectors and interfaces ⇔ IEC 62196 and SAE J1772.
  • GB/T 27930 provides communication requirements in case of DC charging ⇔ ISO 15118 and SAE J1772.

GB/T 27930(Communication Protocol between Off-board Conductive Charger and Battery Management System of Electric Vehicle - DC charging) use J1939:2006 specification for the underlying transportation layer operation. Communication between EV and Charging Station shall be done via CAN 2.0B protocol and the CAN network shall only contain 2 nodes (EV and CS).
More information on GBT charging sequence can be found in GB/T 18487.1 Appendix B. DC Charging Control Pilot Circuit and Control Principle.

NOTE: Charging Station(CS) or Charger: these term shall be used interchangeably in this blog to address the whole Electric Vehicle Charging Station system (all physical, electrical components stand between Electrical Grid and Electrical Vehicle)
In IEC 61851 specification: GB/T DC type of Charging System is addressed as Charging System B

I. Physical Interface

  On the physical interface level, the conductive charging connection between EV and CS include:

  • conductive power transfer line(AC or DC, earth protective)
  • communication signal lines (proximity, general purpose physical signals, digital communication signal).


For the AC charging system in GB/T, its operation and communication scheme is the same as IEC 61851-1 (basic signalling via Control Pilot line: PWM duty cycle and voltage level to signal available output power and charge operation status)

AC physical interface
AC physical interface same as IEC 61851, J1772

CC: proximity line
CP: control pilot line(basic signalling with PWM and voltage level control)
L1,L2,L3: AC power line (phase1-3), if charging station only support 1 phase AC then L1 shall be used.
N: neutral
PE: protective earth


For the DC charging system in GB/T, its operation and communication shall be carry-out via general physical signals and CAN communication bus, which is complied with ISO11898, and the baudrate of 250 kbits/s.

DC physical interface
DC physical interface

S+, S-: CAN-H and CAN-L signal line
CC1, CC2: charging control(charging check point) or connection confirm signal
DC+, DC-: DC power line
PE : protective earth
A+, A-: auxiliary power supply, 12V low voltage to supply the charging circuit on Vehicle side

II. Charging System

An example of DC charging assembly components on both EV and Charging Station side.

GB/T DC charging system
DC charging system

EVSE: Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment, normally it will be the power electronic conversion circuitry, safety monitoring devices, and actuator components(grid side, vehicle side contactors),…

SECC: Supply Equipment Communication Controller, handle the charging process control and communication with other actors in a EV charging infrastructure such as: EV, Charging Station Management System (CSMS), EV user.

DCFC: DC Fast-Charge Contactors, vehicle side High Voltage(HV) contactors, use to open or close the HV power transmission from Vehicle side.

BMS: Battery Management System, control the actuator on HV DC busbar, monitor and regulated charging of HV Battery.

VCU: Vehicle Control Unit(EV Communication Control), handle the charging process of the EV and communication with the Charging Station(SECC).

So you can see the communication via charging cable(interface) are carry-out by SECC and EVCC(generally shall be allocated to EV’s VCU) component, other ECUs shall responsible for actuator operating(DCFC contactors), monitoring and reporting the status(voltage, current, etc.) back to the communication and charging control unit.

III. Data Link Layer

  • For the CAN frame format: CAN 2.0B extended 29bits identifier is used, and PDU bit allocation comply with SAE J1939-21:2006.
J1939 frame format
PGN, SPN - www.csselectronics.com/pages/j1939-explained-simple-intro-tutorial
J1939 frame format
Identifier format - www.csselectronics.com/pages/j1939-explained-simple-intro-tutorial

PGN: Parameter Group Number, 18-bit value which is used as a unique identifier of one parameter group, including reserved bit(R), data page(DP), PDU format field (8-bit)(PF) and PDU specific field (8-bit)(PS).

NOTE: The PGN definition in GB/T 27930 is slightly differ from J1939.
PGN has byte 0 and 2 = 0x00, e.g. PF = 0x01 ⟶ PGN = 0x000100, PF = 0x08 ⟶ PGN = 0x000800

P: priority, set from the highest 0 to the lowest 7
R: reserved bit or extended data page, set as 0
DP: data page, used to select the auxiliary page for the description of parameter group, set as 0
PF: define the used PDU format and parameter group number, in GB/T 27930 PDU1 format is used ⟹ PS is used to store destination address(DA)
PS: PDU specific, used to store the destination address
SPN: Suspect Parameter Number, a logic ID which is allocated to each parameter by Application Layer.

Device Address
Charger 86 (0x56)
BMS 244 (0xF4)

Payload data: transmission of 9~1785 byte data between BMS and charger shall use the J1939 transport protocol function.

Example
GB/T 27930 frame in Vector CANoe trace.
As you can see, the CRM frame(from Charger) has PDU Format = 0x01 -> PGN = 0x100. Fixed SA = 0x56, DA = 0xF4

The application parameters(SPN) are stored CAN frame data field with motorola byte order.

IV. Application Layer

The normal charging process of GB/T standard is divided into 5 stages and fault handling operation in case of errors occur during charging process:

charging stages
GB/T charging stages
  1. initial physical connection and auxiliary power supply: this phase revolving around
    • detection of physical connection between vehicle inlet and charging gun connector via CC1, CC2 signals and
    • providing auxiliary low voltage power supply to vehicle side.
  2. charging handshake: sending protocol and system specific identifier(both EV and CS) handshake data such as
    • initiation: protocol version, maximum HV battery voltage
    • recognition: BMS/vehicle and charger recognition information(battery type, manufacturer, VIN, charger location code,…). After verifying identification of other parties and agree on used protocol version. EV and CS move to the next stage of set-up charging session parameter.
  3. charging parameter configuration:
    • capabilities and current status of EV Battery and Charger
    • EV and Charger ready status
  4. charging loop/energy transfer loop:
    • BMS charging demand, current state.
    • Charger status
  5. end of charging:
    • BMS end of charge status
  6. error handling (monitoring and fault reaction during charging process): during the charging process, different faults could occur and there will be corresponding fault reaction operation:
    • permanent fault and emergency shutdown.
    • recoverable fault and required shutdown and start new charging cycle by unplug and re-plug charging gun.
    • recoverable fault and suspend charging and try restart communication when fault is healed.

GB/T 27930 message list

Name ID PGN Source Destination DLC [Byte] Tx Method Cycle Time Transmitter Comment Priority TpJ1939VarDlc
BHM 0x182756F4 0x2700 0xF4 0x56 2 cyclic 250 BMS [Handshake Initiation] Vehicle handshake 6 No
BRM 0x1C0256F4 0x200 0xF4 0x56 49 cyclic 250 BMS [Handshake Recognition] BMS and vehicle recognition message 7 Yes
BCP 0x1C0656F4 0x600 0xF4 0x56 13 cyclic 500 BMS [Parameter Configuration] Charging parameters of power storage battery 7 No
BRO 0x100956F4 0x900 0xF4 0x56 1 cyclic 250 BMS [Parameter Configuration] Battery charging ready state 4 No
BCL 0x181056F4 0x1000 0xF4 0x56 5 cyclic 50 BMS [Charging] Battery charging demand 6 No
BCS 0x1C1156F4 0x1100 0xF4 0x56 9 cyclic 250 BMS [Charging] Overall battery charging status 7 No
BSM 0x181356F4 0x1300 0xF4 0x56 7 cyclic 250 BMS [Charging] Power storage battery status information 6 No
BMT 0x1C1656F4 0x1600 0xF4 0x56 128 cyclic 10000 BMS [Charging] Temperature of power storage battery [OPTIONAL] 7 Yes
BMV 0x1C1556F4 0x1500 0xF4 0x56 512 cyclic 10000 BMS [Charging] Single power storage battery voltage [OPTIONAL] 7 Yes
BSP 0x1C1756F4 0x1700 0xF4 0x56 16 cyclic 10000 BMS [Charging] Reserved message of power storage battery [OPTIONAL] 7 Yes
BST 0x101956F4 0x1900 0xF4 0x56 4 cyclic 10 BMS [Charging] BMS suspending charging 4 No
BSD 0x181C56F4 0x1C00 0xF4 0x56 7 cyclic 250 BMS [EndOfCharging] BMS statistical data 6 No
BEM 0x81E56F4 0x1E00 0xF4 0x56 4 cyclic 250 BMS [Error] BMS’s error message 2 No
CHM 0x1826F456 0x2600 0x56 0xF4 3 cyclic 250 Charger [Handshake Initiation] Charger handshake 6 No
CRM 0x1801F456 0x100 0x56 0xF4 8 cyclic 250 Charger [Handshake Recognition] Charger recognition 6 No
CML 0x1808F456 0x800 0x56 0xF4 8 cyclic 250 Charger [Parameter Configuration] Charger’s maximum output 6 No
CRO 0x100AF456 0xA00 0x56 0xF4 1 cyclic 250 Charger [Parameter Configuration] Charger output ready state 4 No
CCS 0x1812F456 0x1200 0x56 0xF4 8 cyclic 50 Charger [Charging] Charger’s charging status 6 No
CST 0x101AF456 0x1A00 0x56 0xF4 4 cyclic 10 Charger [Charging] Charger suspending charging 4 No
CSD 0x181DF456 0x1D00 0x56 0xF4 8 cyclic 250 Charger [EndOfCharging] Charger’s statistical data 6 No
CEM 0x81FF456 0x1F00 0x56 0xF4 4 cyclic 250 Charger [Error] Charger’s error message 2 No
CTS 0x1807F456 0x700 0x56 0xF4 7 cyclic 500 Charger [Parameter Configuration] Charger send-time synchronization information 1. byte: second; 2. byte: minute; 3. byte: hour; 4. byte: day; 5. byte: month; 6. and 7. bytes: year. All values as compressed BCD code. 6 No
DM1 0x1820FEFE 0x2000 - - 20 - 0 - Current fault code 6 Yes
DM2 0x1821FEFE 0x2100 - - 20 - 0 - Historic fault code 6 Yes
DM3 0x1822FEFE 0x2200 - - 2 - 0 - Diagnose ready Attention: Incomplete signal set! 6 No
DM4 0x1823FEFE 0x2300 - - 0 - 0 - Clear/reset of current fault code 6 No
DM5 0x1824FEFE 0x2400 - - 0 - 0 - Clear/reset of historic fault code 6 No
DM6 0x1825FEFE 0x2500 - - 1785 - 0 - “Freeze frame parameter Attention: Incomplete signal set!” 6 Yes
RQST 0x18EAFEFE 0xEA00 - - 3 - 0 - Request: This message type, identified by the PGN, provides the capability to request information globally or from a specific destination. 6 No
ACKM 0x18E8FEFE 0xE800 - - 8 - 0 - Acknowledgment Message: The Acknowledgment PG is used to provide a handshake mechanism between transmitting and receiving devices. 6 No
TPCMxx 0x18ECFEFE 0xEC00 - - 8 - 0 - Transport Protocol - Connection Mgmt: Used for the transfer of Parameter Groups that have 9 or more bytes of data. 6 No
TPDT 0x18ECFEFE 0xEB00 - - 8 - 0 - Transport Protocol - Data Transfer: Used for the transfer of data associated with Parameter Groups that have more than 8 bytes of data. 6 No

Protocol sequence

The charging control operation shall be managed by BMS/Vehicle side. The application message transmission during charging process are both event-driven and periodically.
The general timeout(does not receive or received incorrect message) of application message is all 5s unless otherwise specified, for the general communication message timeout, EV or CS shall send timeout error status message to other parties and enter corresponding fault handing reaction.

V. Software Architecture Design