Why Smart Chargers and OCPP?
There are eventually a large number of charging boxes/charging stations available on the market from many different suppliers.
Many of these are "Smart Chargers"; which make it possible to control a number of functions in the charger, such as e.g. to charge when the electricity price is low, or avoid charging when the load on the power grid that supplies electricity to the neighborhood or condominium is high, and we run the risk of getting a power surcharge on the electricity bill.
The vast majority of these "Smart Chargers"; are prepared for connection to the grid, and can communicate with a back-end control system for the charging system.
In order for you as a customer to be able to choose chargers and control systems independently of each other, most players in the industry have agreed on and developed a standard communication protocol called OCPP. (Open Charge Point Protocol). Make sure that your suppliers of chargers and management systems (CSMS, Backend system) deliver solutions that are OCPP certified.
In this way, you will not risk being locked into a particular supplier of chargers and/or charging system if something does not work in chargers or in the charging system. You should then be able to freely choose different charging boxes or choose another service provider if you wish.
Certified chargers
As of the end of September 2021, over 40 different charging station models have been tested and certified in SmartCharge, this is being expanded continuously.
Below is an overview of which charging box manufacturers currently have certified chargers with us. This applies to both fast chargers (DC chargers) and normal chargers (AC chargers). Get in touch if you have questions about a particular model charging station.
Electric Freeway SmartCharge is a CSMS system/Backend system developed by the Norwegian software company
Current Eco AS. This system is OCPP certified by
Open Charge Alliance (OCA) which is an international actor for administration, development and certification of the OCPP protocol.
In addition to the general certification, local testing is carried out
and certification of relevant chargers before they are set up and connected to the SmartCharge system. This is to ensure that the chargers work as they should in our operating pattern.
