Thoughts on reliability from ICNC 2024

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This year's intercharge network conference 2024 was a blast. The Hubject team did again an amazing job hosting EV charging experts from across the globe.

In the many conversations I had, one key theme became apparent: Reliability and the high costs of managing an EV charging network from an operations and

In the many conversations I had, one key theme became apparent: Reliability and the high costs of managing an EV charging network from an operations and maintenance (O&M) perspective.

I had several conversations with HPC network operators like IONITY, Motor Fuel Group, bp pulse, Mer and others, and they all have the same issue in common: How to get more insights into the charger to better diagnose and predict faults and lower the O&M costs?

Instead of sending the O&M team onsite to figure out what's wrong with the charger it would be much better to equip that team with deep insights about the state of the charger and its components so that the first diagnosis can happen remotely and the right spare parts can be ordered ahead of the onsite visit, reducing the cost by at least 50%.

But to get these deep insights, charger OEMs need to provide this data in the first place. Sure, some OEMs have their own backends to which they can give their CPO customers access, but there are two issues with it:

1. The CPO needs to access this data via a standardised protocol like OCPP 2.0.1, whose powerful Device Model and monitoring feature can provide sensor data from every single charger component. CPOs simply want to avoid having to log into the backends of several hardware OEMs, instead they prefer to have all that data nicely aggregated in one single platform, streamlined through OCPP 2.0.1 - scales better and lowers operational costs.

2. Oftentimes charger OEMs don't even know themselves what's going on in their own chargers. The communication controller that speaks OCPP is maybe not even talking to the controller that manages the power modules. What's the temperature of each power module? What's their fan speed? What's the corresponding power output? How's the pressure in the coolant circuit? What's the cooling liquid level? All of that is more often than not simply a black box, not just for the CPO but sometimes even for the charger OEMs themselves.

Let's face it, this is not a sustainable modus operandi. This needs to change. And the first step into a better EV charging experience for both network operator and, in the end, EV driver is to make this data available through a standardised communication interface like OCPP 2.0.1.

Some HPC charger OEM's like Alpitronic, Ekoenergetyka, ABB E-mobility, Autel Energy and Iocharger have already embraced OCPP 2.0.1. The question is: how much of the available sensor data will they make accessible through OCPP 2.0.1?

Switch has been certified for OCPP 2.0.1 in 2023 already and we're working intensively with the OEMs to make all sensor data available through the Switch Platform.

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What's your experience as CPOs? Let me know on LinkedIn.

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Read more about the benefits of OCPP 2.0.1 in my free whitepaper "Time's Up. Say Goodbye to OCPP 1.6"

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Marc Mültin

Marc, the Founder and CEO of Switch, has over 13 years of experience in the e-mobility space and holds a PhD in Computer Science. He is the leading global expert and co-author of international EV communication standards (ISO 15118 & OCPP 2.0.1) that underpin the Switch platform.

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Marc Mültin

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