Ev Council: Don’t Over-Regulate Charge Station Cyber-Security

The Electric Vehicle (EV) Council has recently appealed to the Australian federal government to exclude EV charging stations from the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act (SoCI) regulations.

These regulations currently apply to sectors such as defence, telecommunications, energy, water infrastructure, and data processing/storage. Industries that fall under SoCI must comply with risk management regulations and mandatory cyber security incident reporting, among other obligations.

In a submission to the federal government’s recently released 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy Discussion Paper, the EV Council expressed interest in…

“legislative reforms being considered by the Government that may introduce regulatory obligations for operators of EV charging infrastructure”

…which would include those assets in the scope of SoCI.

While the council does not believe that EV chargers will be specifically regulated under SoCI, it is concerned that they could inadvertently be included if the government expands the scale of electricity assets covered by the legislation. The council argues that the number of EVs on the road in 2030 is unlikely to reach a level where malicious action or operational disruption could significantly compromise the energy system.

“While EV uptake is increasing, the number of EVs on the road in 2030 is unlikely to reach a level where concerted malicious action or operational disruption could compromise the energy system in a significant way,” the submission said.

“The premature inclusion of EV charging infrastructure in the SOCI framework would instead increase the compliance burden for industry and impede EV uptake, compromising our ability to achieve national emissions reduction targets.”

The submission suggests instead that the government develop “a set of minimum standards for EV charging infrastructure”.

Those standards could outline cyber security strategies to protect customer data, and protect charge networks and the grid against disruption or harm by cyber-attacks.

Australia could, the council said, draw on the US National Highway Administration’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Standards and Requirements, which was finalised in February 2023.

Note: The EV Council is discussing public charging stations, not home EV chargers.

What do you think?

Should public EV chargers be included in the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act (SoCI) regulations? Let us know in the comments.

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/ev-charger-cyber-security/