What is a CPO?

Charge Point Operator (CPO) is a provider who operates the Charge Point Management System. The CPO is responsible for delivering consisten and reliable EV charging for end users.

The CPO handles things like:

• Monitoring the chargers for correct operation and for faults
• Managing the back-end software, updates and security
• Processing billing for energy used to charge EVs
• Handling support calls when users need assistance

What is OCPP?

Charge Point Management Systems typically use a protocol called Open Charge Point Protocol, OCPP, to communicate between the chargers and the cloud-based CPMS. The current version of OCPP that is able to be used in production and certified is OCPP 1.6. OCPP version 2.0.1 will likely replace OCPP 1.6 in the future, but for now, only OCPP 1.6 can be fully tested and certified. All the chargers we install are certified to OCPP 1.6, meaning that they can communicate with all the widely used Charge Point Management Systems.

How do I choose a Charge Point Management System?

Many people have heard of Charge Point Operators or CPMS platforms such as Chargefox and Exploren. Here at Electrify EV, we can commission your new chargers onto almost any CPMS platform.

Things to consider before choosing a CPMS:

User experience – Support

What is the support model for when things go wrong? Can your CPO actually dispatch an electrician to solve problems on site, or do they need to rely on third parties and subcontractors to deliver services?

User experience – Uptime and Reliability

It is great to have a big brand name, but how reliable is the system really?  When the system is down, do you have to send an email and wait a long time for a response, or can you call the provider and speak with a technician who knows your site and can respond quickly?

User experience – User App

Is the app easy to use and free to download? Is the app easy for anyone to understand?

Maintenance and upgrades

EV Charging technology is developing rapidly. Cybersecurity is vitally important. Is the CPO going to keep the software up to date and secure? Is the CPO going to keep charger firmware up to date?

Compatibility

Is the CPMS able to operate with all brands of EV Charging hardware? Will the platform work for both AC and DC chargers?

Features and integration capabilities

Can the CPMS offer reporting, analytics and real-time data? Are the options for integration with other software systems for energy management and sustainability reporting and analysis etc? The best CPMS options offer an API which allows communication to any external software.

Cost

What does the service actually cost? Some systems offer a low up front price, but are there exclusions or hidden costs which impact the overall cost of the service?

Which Charge Point Management System do we recommend?

We recommend the enevi CPMS platform.

Why? Because we operate the platform ourselves for all our customers, meaning we can provide an end-to-end seamless experience for our customers.

When we implement the enevi CPMS for your site, there is no third-party to deal with. If you need help, you call us and we deliver the support ourselves, remotely and on-site.

For clients in Sydney, if you’re having a problem which we cannot resolve remotely, we can have an EV Charging expert electrician on site for you in under an hour.

Our CPMS platform, enevi, utilises AMPECO CPMS infrastructure. It is a widely used platform, extremely popular throughout Europe and also widely used in Australia under numerous brand names (Exploren and EVX to name just a couple).

But the big difference is that there is no middle-man. Electrify EV operate all our EV Charging sites on enevi in-house. We are there to support you and your EV Charging installation all the way.