The reliability of public EV charging stations is a critical issue, and industry experts agree that establishing a standard set of error codes would be a big step in the right direction.
For some years now, CharIN’s Error Codes Working Group has been on the case, working to standardize error codes and diagnostics across EVs, charging infrastructure and backend systems. Now the group has taken an important step toward greater transparency and collaboration by launching a public GitHub repository for the development of Unified Error Codes across the EV charging ecosystem.
While the working group meetings remain open to CharIN members only, the new repository allows anyone from the e-mobility community to contribute to the specification development.
As CharIN explains, this move brings several important advantages for the EV ecosystem:
- Transparency: The specification development process is visible from the beginning, enabling stakeholders to follow discussions and contribute ideas.
- Collaboration: Industry participants can directly support the initiative by reporting issues or submitting proposals for new or improved error code definitions.
- Continuity: Error codes require ongoing refinement as technologies evolve. The GitHub-based workflow enables continuous development alongside the growth of the EV charging industry.
To further strengthen the effort, CharIN has established a collaboration with the Unified Error Codes (UEC) Initiative. CharIN’s Error Codes Subgroup will work with the UEC open-source framework to develop a protocol-agnostic unified error code list for EV charging, building on references such as DIN DKE SPEC 99003, MREC and other industry initiatives.
The working group is currently developing the hardware error code definitions, which form the first layer of the unified specification. The next phase will focus on defining software-related error codes—this is expected to be completed by October 2026.
CharIN actively welcomes e-mobility experts and companies to contribute to the initiative. Broad industry participation is essential to ensure that future error codes reflect real-world use cases across OEMs, EVSE manufacturers, charging operators and software providers. Contributors are encouraged to share input on the error codes they plan to implement, associated telemetry requirements and diagnostic workflows.
Source: CharIN
