Virta’s EV charging platform for CPOs explained

Whether you’re starting your Charge Point Operator (CPO) journey and investing in your first charging stations or looking for a new way to manage your existing charging infrastructure, Virta’s EV charging platform helps you run profitable charging operations. Read on to learn how.

First, let’s clarify: When we say CPO at Virta, we talk about Charging Point Operators, not Owners. Charge Point Operators operate a pool of charge points and have quite a few tasks on their table to ensure a fully operational, available and stable charging network around the clock.

More than that, CPOs also need to be able to scale their network as the demand grows and ensure compatibility with the latest industry standards and protocols.

In the spirit of trying to keep costs down and charging station performance up, CPOs also often look for energy management solutions to help them manage energy demand and lower the total cost of ownership (TCO).

To keep up, CPOs need a solution that integrates all of the above. An EV charging platform like Virta’s is here to lend CPOs a helping hand.

Virta Hub – your EV charging control centre

When building and managing an EV charging infrastructure, a good charge point management system (CPMS) can make or break the success of the whole network. We have developed a CPMS that gives CPOs all the necessary tools for:

Network and station management

Whether you have 10 or 10,000 charging stations in your network, a good tool to monitor and manage them is essential. CPOs have access to multiple tools inside Virta Hub that let them keep an eye on their whole network and increase its reliability.

• Real-time monitoring: Check all your charging stations and their status in real time.
• Remote control: Start and end charging sessions remotely whenever needed.
• Self-healing algorithms: Solve up to 30% of charger errors automatically without manual intervention.
• Business insights & reporting tools: Get a clear look into how your charging network is performing with key metrics readily available and make better-informed business decisions.
• Access management: Make your charging stations private or keep them public.

Transactions, pricing, payments and invoicing

Serving a wide range of customers globally calls for flexible payments and customisation possibilities for pricing models. Offer your customers various payment options to let them pay how they want, and rely on automated invoicing to save time and manual work.

• Automated billing: All billing and invoicing happens automatically, without the need for lengthy manual processes. EV drivers are charged, and your profit is automatically paid to you.
• Setting your prices: Decide the pricing model that fits your needs.
• Loyalty pricing: Offer discounts for specific groups of EV drivers.
• Alternate tariffs: Enable different tariffs based on time of day or energy demand.
• VAT handling: VAT registrations and cross-border payments are handled on your behalf.
• Different payment methods available: Give your EV drivers the option to be billed monthly or use one of the many ad hoc payment options.

EV driver management & services

No matter who your customers are, whether they are individual EV drivers or commercial fleets, always offer them the best charging experience from the first interaction.

• EV driver data: Gain access to user behaviour data and use it in your strategic planning and operational decision-making.
• Branded mobile app: Provide your drivers with a user-friendly app to locate charging stations and manage their charging sessions, with your brand at the forefront.
• EV driver support: Give EV drivers access to 24/7 technical support in multiple languages.
• Priority charging: Preassign priority status to specific vehicles that always charge first.

Fleet management

Offer seamless charging experiences to fleets of any type and size. Avoid lengthy expense reporting and complex cost logic, and make EV charging a natural part of your fleet management system.

• Support different fleet types: Make EV charging work for company fleets, heavy-duty fleets, last-mile delivery, leasing companies and many more – offer private and public charging based on specific needs.
• Fleet reservation: Reserve charging slots in advance to reduce waiting times and keep drivers on the proper schedule.
• Home charging reimbursement: Reimburse fleet drivers automatically for charging their vehicles at home.
• Integration into existing systems: Seamlessly integrate EV charging into your fleet management systems for centralised control over your operations.

Roaming & interoperability

Thanks to roaming integrations and an OCPP-compliant platform, you can provide yourself with greater flexibility and your EV drivers with a better user experience.

• Integration with major roaming hubs: Allow your drivers to access charging stations of different networks.
• Hardware agnostic: Integrate the OCPP hardware of your choosing. We support over 450 charging station models and test new ones continuously.
• Integration with existing tools and applications: Seamlessly connect your existing tools and systems, such as maintenance or pricing tools.

Energy management

Energy management solutions are an intelligent way to optimise your energy consumption so that your customer's EVs are always charged at optimal levels and times. You can safely add additional charging stations to your network worry-free.

• Load management: Distribute power across multiple charging stations to prevent overload and save on expensive electrical upgrades.
• Capacity Maximiser: Evaluate how much power needs to be allocated to each charging stations based on each electricity supply’s restrictions.
• Virta Preconnect: Rotate charging turns while putting some sessions on hold when insufficient power is available.
• Renewable energy use: Provide EV charging services powered by renewable electricity.

Click below to read about our customer Finavia, a Finnish airport operator, that uses our energy management solutions not only to save costs, but also protect their existing electrical system from overloading 👇.

And what about the hardware?

Without hardware, there’s no charging network. Smart charging stations that are connected to the cloud are a must for a charging network that meets the present-day needs of EV drivers.

At Virta, we offer a wide selection of charging stations—from standard AC charging to fast and ultra-fast DC charging and megawatt charging (MCS). If you already own charging stations, your existing infrastructure can be easily migrated to our CPMS, Virta Hub, thanks to the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP). Currently, we follow OCPP 1.6 and 2.0.1, and we keep updating as new versions come out.

Our sales team can help you find the devices that suit your network needs and budget. Virta’s charging stations are automatically integrated with our CPMS, Virta Hub. To make your life as a CPO even easier, all our hardware supports Virta’s energy management tools, such as Dynamic and Adaptive Load Management.

Our platform offers optimal solutions for charge point operators. With the right hardware and software, you can build a charging infrastructure that is user-friendly, scalable, and future-proof.

Ready to talk more? Let's get in touch!