Beyond the initial “welcome to our network” message, international travelers are barely aware of moving from one mobile operator’s network to another.
That invisible transition is the goal of the Open Charge Point Interface (OCPI) protocol for electric vehicle charging.
What is Open Charge Point Interface (OCPI)?
The Open Charge Point Interface protocol is point-to-point, designed for exchanging information about charge points between Charge Point Operator and eMobility Service Providers and vice versa (bilateral), allowing for roaming among EV charging networks to offer electric vehicle drivers EV services no matter where they travel.
OCPI enables a scalable, live automated EV roaming setup between CPOs and EMSPs. It supports:
- Authorizing charging sessions, ensuring that only legitimate customers are requesting electric vehicle charging services
- Sharing of charge point information, such as nearest charging points
- Reconciliation of transactions between CPOs and EMSPs
- Charger reservation
- Smart charging
Full industry adoption of the OCPI roaming standard is key to enabling interconnected national and international EV charging networks; it’s the next big step for the EV industry. Comprehensive roaming standards will unite national and international charging networks, ensuring seamless and reliable EV services within and across countries for drivers, no matter the electric vehicle service provider.
Key benefits of OCPI
With OCPI, EV drivers have access to an unlimited number of chargers, giving them the ability to seamlessly charge regardless of the operator, with real-time information about location, availability, and price.
OCPI serves as the technical “handshake” that connects the hardware, software, and back-end infrastructures among operators and e-mobility service providers, ensuring they can more easily track their clients across each other’s systems. Information exchanged includes the sending of remote commands such as reservations, authorizing charging sessions, and billing. Each transaction record includes session and location information, charge detail records (CDR) for billing, and tariff details.
Adoption of OCPI delivers technical data and charging connectivity; CPOs, EVSPs, and EMSPs can individually negotiate roaming agreements among themselves, knowing that a system is already in place for international clearing, enabling them to optimize their business models.
The latest OCPI version 2.2.1 supports both network-to-network/peer-to-peer communications similar to the established roaming platforms including Hubject, GIREVE, e-and clearing.net. Driivz supports all the above eRoaming platforms and associated protocols.
As an added benefit to everyone on the network, OCPI 2.2.1 now includes smart charging capabilities, allowing an external energy manager to interact with specific chargers on multiple networks. This allows energy management to be distributed, ensuring everyone can benefit from smart charging.
Driivz was an initial adopter of the first OCPI technology, integrating it into the system from the very beginning in 2015. This ensures that more than a million EV drivers on the Driivz platform have access to an unlimited number of chargers. Furthermore, Driivz technology manages reconciliation across all participating EMSPs, CPOs, and EVSPs.
OCPI compliance ensures EV charging is smooth and simple for customers and operators alike.
