EV charging solutions provider Versinetic is warning UK charger manufacturers and charge point operators to act ahead of charging standards changes taking effect in 2026.
The changes have downstream implications for organizations responsible for deploying EV charging infrastructure.
The convergence of new technical protocols and tougher regulations is raising the minimum technical and regulatory baseline for EV chargers sold or deployed in the UK, according to Versinetic.
Changes include the rapid adoption of ISO 15118 (Plug & Charge), which introduces certificate-based authentication and secure charger-to-vehicle communication, and migration to Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) 2.0.1 and 2.1, raising expectations around cybersecurity, smart charging and interoperability with back-office systems. In addition, companies will need to comply with UK-specific regulations such as the Smart Charge Points Regulations and Public Charge Point Regulations, which impose mandatory requirements around smart charging, payments, reliability and data transparency.
These overlapping technical and regulatory requirements are tightening procurement and interoperability expectations across charging networks. Manufacturers that fail to address them risk products stalling at certification, facing costly redesigns or being excluded from future network procurement as operators and fleets increasingly demand full standards compliance, Versinetic said.
The company has published a guide titled “Emerging UK EV Charging Standards: What Manufacturers Need to Know,” to help manufacturers translate the evolving standards into concrete design, testing and certification decisions.
The guide is structured around five areas that directly affect charger roadmaps: standards alignment, compliance and testing, hardware and firmware architecture, operational readiness and future planning.
The guide also includes an interactive audit and compliance toolkit that allows manufacturers to assess their current readiness against emerging standards and identify where late design decisions could create certification, retrofit or market-access risk.
“UK EV charging standards are increasingly acting as gatekeepers for grid connection, certification, and commercial deployment. What many manufacturers underestimate is when compliance decisions are effectively locked in during the development cycle,” said Dunstan Power, Managing Director at Versinetic.
“One of the biggest risks we’re seeing is manufacturers assuming they can retrofit compliance later. In practice, hardware architecture, firmware structure and security choices constrain what can be achieved, and by the time non-compliance becomes visible, the cost and disruption are often far higher than expected.”
Source: Versinetic
