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Future-proof charging infrastructure: OCPI makes charging international and interoperable

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The Mobility House Team

December 08, 2020

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

The future of mobility is electric. But the environmentally friendly and quiet electric cars need to be recharged before the journey. To ensure that charging is quick and safe and seamlessly integrated into the local energy supply, countless processes run in the background. Open and standardized interfaces between the vehicle, charging station and back-end as well as energy management systems guarantee that charging infrastructure can grow and constantly improve with the increasing success of electric mobility. This way a future-proof charging infrastructure is guaranteed. Reason enough to dedicate a series to these invisible helpers.

Part six deals with OCPI – an independent cloud-to-cloud communication protocol.

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OCPI makes charging international and interoperable

OCPI, short for Open Charge Point Interface, is an independent cloud-to-cloud communication protocol for the interface between the charging station operator software and the various electric mobility service providers (eMSPs). OCPI is used for the data exchange between the operator of the charging station and the various providers of charging cards and even charging software, such as apps for cell phones. OCPI can be used, for example, for the authorization of electric cars at charging stations via roaming providers and for the exchange of billing-related information regarding the charging process, such as how much power was charged.

With OCPI, it is theoretically possible for electric car drivers to charge at any charging station with any charging card, regardless of national borders, station operator, or vehicle model. The reason this is only possible in theory is that operators and card providers need to have concluded relevant contracts with each other and must have integrated interfaces. If this is the case, electric car drivers can enjoy a first-class user experience: prices, tariffs, locations, availability, and convenient billing are available transparently and in real time. Intelligent charging, i.e. the exchange of smart-charging commands, is also possible with OCPI.

OCPI & The Mobility House

With the help of the billing portal, the Charging and Energy Management system ChargePilot®  from The Mobility House can also handle OCPI signals, exchanging the information received by the vehicle in OCPI with a third-party backend. In the process, the cloud-based backend system from ChargePilot® encrypts all relevant information (such as user data and energy consumption) and thus fulfills the strictest data protection standards.