By Jeff Cohen, CEO, i-charging USA
Working on the commercial side of EV charging for the last dozen years, I would characterize myself as impatient when it comes to new charging product certification.
Just ask my i-charging hardware team — they’ll readily agree!
Naturally, I want to offer our North American partners, and customers i-charging newest and best DC charging solutions as soon as possible.
i-charging recently announced that our ultra-high powered i-light, capable of dispensing up to 700 kW using CCS, has received ETL certification to UL 2202 and 2231 standards. The MCS (Megawatt Charging System) version, capable of delivering up to 1.5 MW per output, will be the next to be certified. This milestone has me reflecting on what waiting for certification really means for all our key stakeholders.In a word: Trust.
In this ever-changing EV charging industry, I’ve learned firsthand that building and keeping trust is the biggest challenge faced by EV charging professionals.
Reliability: Necessary but Not Sufficient
Most EV industry professionals would assert that trust is built and maintained by ensuring charging infrastructure is reliable. Once installed, chargers demonstrate high uptime and receive rapid response to remedy operational issues to become trusted.
Reliability is critically important and necessary, but it is not sufficient to ensure long-term successful DC charging operation and earning long-term trust.
Certification: The Long-Term Foundation of Trust
Let’s turn our attention to one of the most important — and least understood — trust builders in the EV industry: Certification. Specifically, certification to UL standards.
On the surface, certification can appear like “checking the boxes” to receive the vaunted UL/ETL/Intertek seal, stamped onto the certification plate affixed to the charger’s cabinet, then hidden away for the rest of the charger’s life. Certification protects the charging system for its entire service life. Hardware evolves. Software updates. CPOs change. Certification endures.
To help further convince you, I present:
11 Reasons Why Certification Creates Enduring Trust
2. Electrical Safety Assurance Certified chargers meet strict standards for overcurrent protection, insulation, grounding, thermal management, and fault tolerance, reducing the risk of fires, shocks, or equipment failure.
3. Compliance With National UL Standards Certification confirms compliance with NEC, NFPA, and OSHA requirements, ensuring the charger is legally aligned with U.S. electrical and workplace safety codes.
4. Grid Compatibility and Power Quality Certification verifies that chargers behave predictably on the grid — no harmful harmonics, voltage instability, or unsafe load behavior — which is critical for MD/HD fleet depots.
5. Environmental and Durability Testing ETL evaluate chargers under extreme heat, cold, humidity, vibration, and corrosion conditions, proving they can survive real world fleet environments.
6. Validated Protection Systems Safety features like ground fault detection, over temperature shutdown, surge protection, and emergency stop functions are tested to ensure they work reliably every time.
7. Manufacturing Quality Oversight ETL certification requires ongoing factory audits, ensuring the product shipped to customers matches the product tested — preventing quality drift over time.
8. Insurance and Liability Alignment Many insurers and risk managers require certification for commercial charging installations. Certified equipment reduces liability exposure and accelerates site approval.
9. Utility and AHJ Acceptance Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs), utilities, and inspectors trust ETL marks, making permitting, interconnection, and commissioning faster and more predictable.
10. Customer Confidence and Market Credibility For fleets, municipalities, and developers, ETL certification is a visible signal of reliability and safety. It reduces perceived risk and increases confidence in long term operation.
11. Future Scalability Certification enables charging infrastructure to expand over time, because standards endure over the long term — additional certified components can be upgraded, added or repositioned while maintaining the original certification.
What I frequently reference, Sustainable Technology, is the hallmark, or foundation of i-charging: to create charging infrastructure which not only scales with changes in demand but enables additional capabilities to be integrated into both existing and new charging solutions.
So, Jeff, Land This Plane — or eVTOL
With the certification of i-light, which adds to a number of products certified in North America, like all BB family from 50 kW to 900 kW, my impatience has been richly rewarded.
The painstaking work our hardware R&D and software development, testing and QA teams have invested in i-light now gives i-charging USA the unprecedented opportunity to offer MD/HD fleets purpose-built, sustainable charging technology for:
• Fleets on the road today (CCS /up to 800 kW)
• Fleets arriving soon, traveling across North America and requiring MCS megawatt charging
• Integration with other renewable components including Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) which has become a standard requirement for MHD fleet charging operations.
Further, i-light is one of the key building blocks in our eVTOL charging infrastructure, enabling high-output charging for CCS-equipped eVTOLs seeking up to 500 kW+ recharge capabilities.
And you can fully expect the same certification rigor that delivered i-light and our BB family of public facing chargers is being to be applied to:
• The 1.6 MW MAX Power Unit
• The 500-kW All-in-One 500
I will simply have to remain impatient as we bring these exciting solutions to you.
