A charge point management platform is a software suite that allows the management,  maintenance and monetisation of an extensive charging station network across a variety of use cases and business models. It typically consists of a back office, web portal, and mobile apps intended to optimise business operations, lower maintenance costs and provide a seamless charging experience for EV drivers.

If you intend to operate hundreds to thousands of chargers, an EV charging management platform will be at the core of your EV charging business. This platform should easily integrate into your operations and existing systems to support your entire workflow and reduce charge point maintenance time and costs. A CPO management platform ensures reduced downtime of charging stations, increased visibility, payment flexibility, and automated billing and invoicing. It also must be hardware-agnostic and be able to communicate with all OCPP-compliant charge point models in your network, thus a future-proof charging infrastructure is guaranteed. At the end of the day, a CPO management platform should support a variety of business models and use cases, from private and home charging to public and en-route charging scenarios.

In order to launch, operate and grow your charging network, you need to use a scalable and complete charge point management platform. A future-proof EV charging management platform will also be white-label and cloud-based. It needs to support public and private networks, accept a variety of payment methods, and be user-friendly so EV drivers can have a seamless experience at your charging stations.

Your EV charging management platform should include charging infrastructure management, end-user services, and smart energy management solutions that are tailored to your business needs. It should also enable real-time visibility and auto-fault recovery algorithms, user management, roaming capabilities, and hardware flexibility. It is important to have the flexibility to establish the pricing plans and tariff models suiting your business model best. Preferably, you should also be able to integrate with a payment processor of your choice to have full control of the money flow. As a result, payments from customers can be accepted directly without additional costs or delays. Smart energy management features such as dynamic load balancing and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) are essential for power load management, ensuring that the grid is never overloaded.

Once you have shortlisted CPO management software candidates based on feature set and response time, we recommend you consider their experience, portfolio of clients and case studies. Working with a software provider who is backed by your direct or indirect competitors is a risk you want to avoid. Take a look at the company’s investors to make sure there is no conflict of interest that could put you at a disadvantage when competing for the same customers. 
After all, pick the candidate which best fits your requirements.

First and foremost, you should consult with your software provider to determine what requirements they have. But in general, you should already have in mind what number and type of charging stations you need. If you choose a white-label solution such as ours, you’ll also have to provide your company logo and branding guidelines for your backend, web & mobile apps to be set. If needed, our professionals can also advise you on the most appropriate EV charging business models for your business case. Furthermore, you will have a dedicated account manager throughout the process. They will fully train you during onboarding, discuss your business cases, and support you on an ongoing basis.

When you are just starting out, one of the key benefits of using licensed access to a Charge Point management system (CPMS) is that it is cost effective. However, over time, such a model becomes increasingly unprofitable, and your company’s growth slows. That is the time when using a white-label solution and developing your own brand becomes a focus and a successful long-term strategy.