Streamlining Plug-and-Charge Authorization for Electric Vehicles with OAuth2 and OIDC

Abstract

The Plug-and-Charge (PnC) process defined by ISO 15118 standardizes automated Electric Vehicle (EV) charging by enabling automatic installation of credentials and use for authentication between EV and Charge Point (CP). However, the current credential installation process is non-uniform, relies on a complex Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), lacks support for fine-grained authorization parameters, and is not very user-friendly. In this paper, we propose a streamlined approach to the initial charging authorization process by leveraging the OAuth Device Authorization Grant and Rich Authorization Requests. The proposed solution reduces technical complexity, simplifies credential installation, introduces flexible authorization constraints (e.g., time- and cost-based), and facilitates payment through OpenID Connect (OIDC). We present a proof-of-concept implementation along with performance evaluations and conduct a symbolic protocol verification using the Tamarin prover. Furthermore, our approach solves the issue of OAuth's cross-device authorization, making it suitable as a formally proven blueprint in contexts beyond EV charging.