IEC 61851-1:2010 applies to on-board and off-board equipment for charging electric road vehicles at standard a.c. supply voltages (as per IEC 60038) up to 1 000 V and at d.c. voltages up to 1 500 V, and for providing electrical power for any additional services on the vehicle if required when connected to the supply network. It includes characteristics and operating conditions of the supply device and the connection to the vehicle; operators and third party electrical safety, and the characteristics to be complied with by the vehicle with respect to the a.c./d.c. EVSE, only when the EV is earthed. This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 2001. It constitutes a technical revision.

The main changes with respect to the first edition of this standard are:

- revision of connector definitions and current levels (Clause 8);
- modification definition of pilot wire to pilot function;
- division of Clause 9 to create Clauses 9 and 11;
- Clause 9: specific requirements for inlet, plug and socket-outlet;
- Clause 11: EVSE requirements: the basic generic requirements for charging stations;
- renumbering of annexes;
- deletion of previous Annex A and integration of charging cable requirements into new Clause 10;
- Annex B becomes Annex A and is normative for all systems using a PWM pilot function with a pilot wire; Annex C becomes Annex B;
- replacement of previous Annex D (coding tables for power indicator) with B.4 in Annex B using new values;
- new informative Annex C describing an alternative pilot function system.

This publication is of high relevance for Smart Grid.