5 Charge Point Management System (CPMS) capabilities you need to consider

A Charge Point Management System is a must if you operate EV chargers. But what should you look for? What capabilities to focus on? In this article, we’ll dive into the five most crucial CPMS capabilities to consider when choosing a CPMS provider for your EV charging business.

While the EV market’s focus in the past years has been mainly on the growth of the number of EVs on our roads, we’re slowly seeing the spotlight turn on EV charging infrastructure. In 2023, the stock of public charge points grew by around 40%, and the growth should continue to support the large number of electric vehicles.

But hardware is only one side of the coin. For you to make the most of your charging stations, a charge point management system, or in other words, EV charging management software, is a must. And by ‘the most,’ we mean improving charger uptime, managing your energy consumption, and providing a reliable experience to your EV drivers (and more).

The EV charging management software platform market is projected to reach $25,922 million by 2031 from $980 million in 2021. This signals some big growth.

This growth means that more and more solution providers are entering the market. And in the end, it’s up to you to choose one from a long list that’s only getting longer.

So, how do you choose the right one? By making sure they can offer the most crucial capabilities. We’ll tell you what these are, but first, let’s run over the basics.

What is a Charge Point Management System?

A Charge Point Management System, abbreviated as CPMS can also be referred to as an EV charging software, EV charging management software, back-end system or charging station management system.

In this article, we’ll stick to Charge Point Management System and its abbreviation, CPMS.

But to the point, what is a CPMS?

It’s a cloud-based software solution that gives you a complete overview of your charging operations and lets you remotely manage your charge points.

For that to happen, the charge points and the CPMS must use the same language. In this case, OCPP, or the Open Charge Point Protocol, is the de facto industry standard for this kind of communication.

As long as both your charge points and your chosen CPMS are OCPP-compliant, the communication can flow, and you’re all set.

Who is a Charge Point Management System for?

When you only operate a handful of chargers in your company’s parking lot, it might be ok to track your chargers and related transactions manually, but when you decide to grow your network, an Excel sheet might not be sufficient anymore.

Here is where a Charge Point Management System comes into question.

Basically, everyone who operates charge points can benefit from a CPMS as their so-called command centre, from charge point operators (CPOs) and e-mobility service providers (EMSPs) to fleet operators and installers.

Now that we know what CPMS is and who it is for, we can get to the more exciting part. Here are the five most crucial capabilities your chosen CPMS should have for your business to thrive.

1. Real-time monitoring and remote control

This is probably the most essential aspect of having your chargers connected to a software. Monitoring your whole network in real-time lets you detect faults, monitor energy use, and manage charging sessions.

If any of your chargers experience downtime, you’ll know about it and be able to do remote troubleshooting. As a result, you’ll have high uptime for your chargers and a reliable charging experience for your customers.

2. Dynamic pricing and automated billing

Electricity prices are subject to constant change. During off-peak hours, usually at night, electricity will be cheaper due to lower demand. In the case of renewable electricity, the higher its production, the lower its prices. To sum up, electricity prices naturally fluctuate.

This should be reflected in your pricing models. With a good CPMS, you should be able to adjust pricing based on different factors with just a few clicks. This kind of flexibility in pricing allows you to manage peak load times and have more control over your profits.

With a growing network of chargers, the administrative hassle of manually tracking every transaction would send your business into a frenzy. An automated billing system then becomes a necessity.

A good CPMS should handle all payments and invoicing on your behalf. Your customers will be automatically charged for their charging sessions, and you will receive your revenue straight into your bank account. It should be as easy as that.

3. User management and access control

A charge point management system isn’t only about managing chargers. A CPMS gives you tools to manage users and their access, too.

Not every charging station is the same. Some are only for private customers, such as employees of a certain company or residents of a specific apartment complex, and some are for public use. This is why it’s crucial to be able to assign different access rights to different users.

Ultimately, a CPMS should serve as a database of all your users, giving you an overview of their charging habits and a tool to offer them loyalty programmes through discounts for specific users or user groups.

4. Energy management tools

“The right software platform allows operators to optimise energy management, bridging the mobility and energy worlds for the greater good of the planet.” - Dhrubajyoti Narayan, Lead Analyst, BIS Research

Energy management is often a big aspect of managing an EV charging network. The bigger the network, the bigger the need to manage how much energy is being used to power it up.

Your existing electrical grid may not always be ready to support your charging network. Energy management tools can help prevent grid overload or, ultimately, a big spend on electrical upgrades.

Load balancing tools such as Dynamic or Adaptive Load Management distribute the available power across multiple chargers based on demand and availability. This means the chargers will only give as much power as it’s possible to charge all plugged-in cars simultaneously without overloading the grid.

All in all, a CPMS should monitor your energy consumption, so you always have an overview of how much energy each charging station is using and at what time. You can use this data to predict demand and adapt your pricing strategies accordingly, for example, by increasing prices during peak times. Which leads us to...

5. Comprehensive data and reporting

Data is the new gold. You’ve probably heard this phrase before. And it’s true. Data allows you to understand your business in-depth and make more informed decisions going forward.

A good CPMS should collect detailed data and provide customisable reporting and analytics capabilities so you can understand how your EV drivers charge, what chargers are used the most, where they’re located and how much revenue you’re making. Are there any patterns or trends you can identify?

All this information gives you the ability to make strong, data-driven decisions about the future of your charging business.

How Virta Hub brings it all together

A good CPMS is essentially your one touchpoint to your whole charging network. Above all, it should be intuitive and easy to use.

At Virta, we’ve developed a solution called Virta Hub.

Virta Hub offers all five capabilities from this blog and more. It lets you manage and monitor your whole charging network with a few clicks and in only one place.

“Virta’s back-end system and its reliability give us the edge to become the best service provider in Australia.” – Billy Wepener, CEO of Elanga

See for yourself! Check out our dedicated page, or get in touch with us directly.