Traditionally, operating an EV charging service comes with a heavy load of responsibilities for both CPOs and EMSPs: customer support, technical problem solving, payments and invoicing, customer credit risk, roaming services and charger management, to name a few.
Let’s take a closer look at the main parts required to get an EV charging business up & running.
1. Get the right hardware
Naturally, a charging service provider needs a charging station. And when it comes to hardware, there is plenty to choose from. Not all charging devices are equal. Before deciding what charging station is the best one, you need to consider several aspects, such as:
- Price
- Type of charger
- Charging capacity
- Guarantees
- Smart charging features
- Country-specific requirements
- Logistical process
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Analyse location needs
Before investing in hardware, you should analyse your location’s suitability for EV charging infrastructure. Consider the number of registered EVs, the availability of public charging stations, traffic volume, and road infrastructure near your location. After that, deep dive into the charging needs of your customers to get the right picture about the correct type of charging device for you.
For instance, a busy passing point like a petrol station will benefit the most from an ultra- fast DC charger for quick, less than 30 minutes of charging, while a hotel will choose standard AC chargers with multiple hours-long charging sessions. While fast and ultra-fast DC charging devices are pricier, EV drivers are ready to pay more for the fast charging experience.
You can choose from standard, fast or ultra fast charging. Let’s see which type fits which use cases the best.
- Standard AC charging with a power of up to 22 kW is perfect for home charging, workplace charging and charging at hotels or airports. To simplify, wherever an EV driver leaves their car for over 2 hours.
- Fast DC charging charges a car in the span of 0,5 and 2 hours. This makes fast chargers suitable for restaurants or retail and grocery stores.
- Nowadays, ultra fast DC charging is a popular type that powers up an EV in less than 30 minutes. Perfect for on-the-go charging at petrol stations, along busy roads or at EV charging hubs.
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Charging hardware 101: Socket types
Like with a mobile phone, there are different socket types for EV charging. Let’s break them down.
A standard charging device should always have a Type 2 socket. Fast charging devices should include mainly CCS sockets as it's a global standard. In specific use cases or depending on market, a combo of CCS and CHAdeMO sockets could be used. Let’s quickly dive into what these socket types mean.
- For standard AC charging, the plug standard chosen by the European Union is Type 2. Type 2 charging devices enable up to 22 kW power for charging.
- CCS Combo is the European DC fast charging standard chosen by the European Union.
- CHAdeMo is another DC fast-charging standard.The Japanese CHAdeMO standard, common with Nissan and Mitsubishi electric cars, is not an official EU standard but can be found almost everywhere.
The OCPP standard
OCPP or the Open Charge Point Protocol. This is the de facto standard in the EV charging industry, powering a connection between your hardware and your software. One of the most important aspects to consider when selecting a charging service is double- checking that your devices and back-end system follow the same version of the OCPP standard. A charge point management system (CPMS) following the OCPP protocol can be integrated with almost any charging device in the market that follows the OCPP protocol.
đź’ˇ PRO TIP: Take advantage of grant schemes and incentivesMany countries provide grant schemes and incentives for deploying EV charging infrastructure to support electric vehicle adoption. Grant schemes and incentives can often make up to 75% of hardware and installation costs and are worth looking into. |
2. Choose the right software
"Smart and cloud-based is a must."
The second step is to choose a Charge Point Management System (CPMS). In short, CPMS is software that lets you manage and monitor your charge points. When choosing a CPMS provider, make sure to prioritise smart charging services. Smart charging means creating a secure data connection between the charging device, the charging operator, and the electric vehicle.
This allows you, the charging operator, to manage your chargers in the cloud and to monitor and restrict their use remotely. New features can be easily updated depending on today’s and tomorrow’s needs. Smart charging is future-proof, flexible, sustainable and can be controlled remotely.
Data is the new gold
Not only is data valuable in making your charging service better and more user-friendly for your customers, but with the new European-wide AFIR legislation and the UK’s specific Public Charge Point Regulations, holding and delivering accurate public charge point data will become mandatory.
Choose a CPMS that gives you easy access to reference and availability data. Reference data include the charging point’s location, type of connector available, payment methods available, and pricing. Availability data include whether the charging point is working or out of order. All this data is crucial for a positive charging experience.
Personalise your EV charging business
As any customer-facing business could agree, having strong brand recognition brings stronger customer loyalty. And if you’re looking to deploy an EV charging service, offering the service under your brand would benefit your business in more ways than one.
Increase your brand awareness, strengthen customer loyalty and attract new customers with a CPMS provider who can personalise all the customer touchpoints with your brand.
3. Smart energy management
Will the electricity grid handle the surging number of electric vehicles and their charging needs? That’s a common worry. But the industry has some solutions up its sleeve to make sure the grid is not overwhelmed and stays balanced. With smart charging, the maximum charging power can be controlled remotely and balanced according to the changing electricity needs.
To take things one step further, EV charging stations can also be controlled as a group with different load management tools. A CPO can set a maximum total charging load for a selected charging station group. With load management features, charging point owners don’t have to worry about a building's electrical capacity since the charging power is automatically controlled depending on how many cars are charging simultaneously.
And about future-proofing: did you know that EVs are essentially big batteries on wheels? EVs make it possible for energy to be stored and used at a later time. This is called vehicle-to-grid technology, or V2G. Charging times can also be optimised based on solar or wind power production to match the environment better and save excessive costs.
"Let's run a successful charging business"
Choosing the right hardware with smart features and ? connecting it to a cloud-based platform is only the first step. Charging stations need to be set up and managed 24/7.
Let’s look at some of the most common tasks an EV charging service provider needs to handle.
Charging hardware installation and setup
First and foremost, you need to install the charging devices. For that, you will need the help of a certified electrician. Before the installation, it’s also a good idea to check your site’s electrical capacity and see if any changes in the electricity system need to be made. If you’re planning to install DC chargers, it’s especially crucial to check if the voltage of the site’s grid is sufficient. If there’s a need for an upgrade, a professional electrician can execute the electrical inspection and create a process plan.
After installation, you have to implement station integrations, and install firmware. The bigger the charging infrastructure, the more charging station models and firmware setups must be managed.
Charging hardware maintenance
When the stations are up & running, they require regular digital maintenance, updating, error maintenance and health checks. In addition, both EMSPs and CPOs usually need to deal with the entire system management - setting the price schemes, POI data management, diagnostics and monitoring. In a nutshell, the operator needs to define the parameters and make sure everything runs smoothly.
Telecom integrations and setup
GSM, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, and/or (w)LAN modules are embedded in the professional charging stations where certain providers’ SIM cards are installed. This system is connected to a telecom operator, configured with provider- specific setups, to the platform’s back-end system.
Preconfiguring charging stations is essential to avoid costly field work and enables a plug- and-play setup of new charging stations.
Charging analytics
It’s essential to stay on top of your charging operations to try various business models and make agile decisions based on customer behaviour to achieve the ultimate EV charging experience. You’ll need a comprehensive overview of your charging business to do that. A good analytics tool can help you keep track of all the critical data you need.
Technical support
Operating a charging network also requires a deep technical understanding of software and hardware elements. This includes system-level support and a technical understanding of hardware issues. A digital approach to support is important for remote diagnostics, rebooting and firmware updates, to mention a few. Clear service level agreement (SLA) models keep the EV driver experience at a high level.
National and country-specific integrations & compliance
Each country has different information services that companies are obligated to integrate with. The EV charging service provider must also take care of VAT and other national requirements. Selling EV charging in Europe requires local VAT registration, which is especially crucial when handling cross-border transactions across multiple countries.
Payments & invoicing processes
An EV charging service operator must also handle the billing and payment systems. Selected payment system provider integrations must be installed, operated and maintained to enable successful payment transactions.
Regarding payments, there are increasing requirements for transparency, compliance and efficiency. New payment methods, such as contactless payment, have been required by law in European countries since 2024.
Often, payment transactions cause unnecessary headaches: the service provider must deal with unpaid bills, credit risks and dunning. Even a small credit loss can affect the profitability of operations.
Contactless payments and other aspects are part of the new Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation 👇
Roaming agreements & integrations
Roaming refers to an EV driver’s ability to use various charging stations even if they’re only a customer of one service provider. Through roaming, you’ll give your customers access to thousands of stations. Additionally, your stations will be added to public EV charging maps and visible to thousands of EV drivers, which means more customers for you.
To enable EV charging roaming, the service provider must enter into roaming agreements and handle quite a few complexities,
from roaming network developments and contract management to settlements, VAT handling and reporting. To summarise, starting your own roaming operations can be quite a hefty job.
24/7 EV driver support & problem solving
Branded customer touchpoints: Mobile app and more
Data & information security
To summarise, a traditional EV charging service provider has a lot of responsibilities. For many, these tasks seem too complex and too costly to handle. Fortunately, you can find an established partner to take these responsibilities off your shoulders.
"Minimum effort, maximum benefit."
A comprehensive service package
It gives businesses the benefits of being an e-mobility service provider without taking on the many responsibilities. Offer EV charging as part of your unique branded customer experience while we handle all the complexities of running the service.
For most companies, EV charging is not part of their core business. Partnering with an established player suits anyone who wants to start providing EV charging services and is looking for an effortless, fast and cost- efficient solution that brings together the best of both worlds.
At Virta, the keyword is easy. We take care of everything - from selecting and installing the most suitable EV chargers for your location and taking care of station management and maintenance to dealing with payments and invoicing and facilitating EV driver services such as the mobile app. In case of any issues, Virta’s expert technical support team is always ready to help you and your EV drivers.
All in all, we manage the whole value chain on your behalf so you can sit back and see your charging business flourish.
OCPP 2.0.1 explained: Key benefits for the EV ecosystem
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