Adding Ad-hoc Payments to a Charging Network

Large Charge Point Operators face many challenges related to managing payments for EV charging. These include, supporting various payment methods, ensuring consistent transactions and providing a user-friendly experience. The variety of payment preferences, like credit cards, mobile payments, and RFID tags, makes these challenges more complex.

Solution

This integration allows the CPO to offer customers an ad-hoc payment option on its charging network while also extending Vourity’s reach to a broader network of charging stations. Through this secure integration, the CPO and Vourity were able to communicate effectively by exchanging data covered by key OCPI modules like credentials, locations, commands, sessions, and charge detail records. This not only enhanced the payment process but also ensured seamless interoperability across the charging network.

Full Service Integration

The Vourity platform works with existing charging and backend systems, which means that there is no need to replace any current systems. In many cases, the CPO already has an existing system to manage all charging stations that is based on subscriptions and RFID tags. Vourity simply augments this system by adding open payment methods.

OCPI Integration

Vourity Cloud supports OCPI 2.2 and OCPI 2.2.1 for backend-to-backend integrations in Electric Vehicle Charging, acting as an EMSP (e-Mobility Service Provider) in the OCPI protocol, while our client represents the CPO (Charge Point Operator).

At the start of the integration process, the CPO and EMSP go through a credentials process in which they exchange tokens that will be needed for further communication.

After the credentials are established, Vourity then expects the CPO backend to send one or more locations. Locations and status of connectors should then be pushed to the Vourity backend as soon as the status is changed, or a new location is added or updated in the CPO backend.

Use Cases

The most common use cases include starting and stopping an EV charging session. Here, StartSession and StopSession commands are being used:

PUT request for StartSession
PATCH request for ongoing values/charging periods
PATCH request for StopSession

Modules

Vourity Cloud exchanges the following modules with the Charge Point Operators (CPOs) in order to achieve successful backend-to-backend integrations:

Credentials module: Vourity Cloud acts as the receiver, ensuring secure authentication and authorization.

Locations module: Vourity Cloud acts as the receiver, managing and updating information about charging station locations.

Commands module: Vourity Cloud acts as the sender, sending operational commands to charging stations.

Sessions module: Vourity Cloud acts as the receiver, collecting and managing data about ongoing and completed charging sessions.

Charge Detail Records (CDRs) module: Vourity Cloud acts as the receiver, handling detailed records of charging transactions.

Outcome

Connecting to Vourity using the OCPI 2.2.1 protocol provided a practical solution for our client’s challenges in managing EV charging payments. This integration ensures secure communication between the CPO and Vourity through key OCPI modules, which is a unique and interesting application of the protocol to enable ad-hoc payment. Through this integration, Vourity’s users gained access to an expanded network of charging stations, while the CPO benefited from improved operational efficiency and a better customer experience.