In 2021 the number of electric vehicles in the European Union (EU) was higher than ever before. Therefore, the charging infrastructure in Europe has many challenges. The EU project USER-CHI (user centric charging infrastructure) aims at devising the basic guidelines for an interoperable charging infrastructure in INFRA (Interoperability Framework). The first part of the paper is about the main results from the framework. The second part presents additional desk research. This allowed for the identification of new aspects that were not, or only superficially, considered during INFRA.

As result, the most important aspect to achieve interoperability in the EU is a user friendly charging infrastructure. It needs to fill the gaps in the European legislation and transfer them into national legal frameworks, otherwise it causes wide disparities between countries.

This report describes the procedures to manage the ethical issues of the project. Moreover, the report addresses the RRI strategy with a special focus on the gender dimension of the project. This includes gender-related specialities in regard of women involved as end-users, as well as female researchers within the project team. Therefore, the report includes a written summary of the Webinar “Diversity in Transport” offered for the USER-CHI consortium, as well as information on gender mainstreaming in research institutions and other organisations.

To enable the widespread adoption of EVs it is essential to establish an interoperable charging network that allows users to charge “anywhere, anytime” within the EU. Therefore, an interoperability framework (INFRA) has been developed considering conditions under which interoperability can be reached regarding electromobility services in general and the five technical USER-CHI products INCAR, CLICK, SMAC, INDUCAR and INSOC. It also highlights barriers still inhibiting interoperability and provides a set of guidelines with recommendations on how to reach interoperability.

This report presents the technical and legal requirements, which need to be considered for the development and integration of 8 USER-CHI products in up to 7 European cities. Regarding the technical requirements, the international, European, and national approaches to standardisation of electromobility are described as well as the legal requirements that derive from both the European as well as the national or regional legal framework. By this the similarities and differences with which the developers, installers and users of charging infrastructure are confronted become recognizable.