Vulnerability Analysis and Risk Assessment of EV Charging System under Cyber-Physical Threats

The rapid pace of Electrification in the transportation sector, realized through plug-in electric vehicle (EV) integration, necessitates the smart charging infrastructures. These systems built on real-time data collection and decision making coordinate the charging demand to facilitate high penetration of PEVs in the power grids. Accordingly, the inherent cyber-physical characteristic of smart charging networks makes them susceptible to cyber-physical threats. Due to the lack of a consistent cyber-physical attack assessment in EV networks, this paper aims to propose the vulnerability analysis and risk assessment for the smart charging infrastructures. To this end, we define several potential failure scenarios for the WinSmartEV (TM) charging system on the UCLA campus and study the impacts of potential cyber-physical attacks. Moreover, we outline a codified methodology and taxonomy for assessing vulnerability and risk of cyber-physical attacks on the EV charging networks in order to create a generalizable and comprehensive solution. The outcome is a framework to prioritize the degree of the vulnerabilities and risks in the EV networks and to develop effective countermeasures.