The Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) Forum announced the formation of the new Open Charge Alliance with ABB, Eaton, ESB, E-laad, Greenlots and others as existing members.
OCPP is a consortium of public and private electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure leaders with more than 10,000 installations worldwide.
The new alliance maintains the original mission to further develop OCPP and related interoperability standards.
The Alliance has generated broad industry consensus behind OCPP and will build on that to promote and enable open, flexible EV charging networks for the next wave of EV adoption worldwide. Multiple levels of Open Charge Alliance membership are available.
“For the past several years we have promoted the benefits of OCPP in order to make EV networks accessible. In that short amount of time, OCPP has become the accepted protocol in 50 countries and over 10,000 stations,” said Onoph Caron, founding member of the Open Charge Alliance and director of E-laad.
“The enduring nature of OCPP—an open protocol with no cost or licensing barriers to adoption—has given it a strong foothold and deep relevance in Europe and other markets.”
The biggest challenge facing the adoption of EVs today is no longer related to “range anxiety,” but rather stems from access limitations to the public charging stations that line our highways, streets and communities.
Many of these early stations are accessible only via proprietary, subscription-based networks.
Unfortunately, the closed nature of these networks has generated deep frustration for both EV drivers, who expect the same accessibility that they enjoy at the gasoline pump, as well as charge station owners, who as a result of proprietary protocols are locked into a network system that prevents them from making changes as their needs evolve or price points get too high, OCPP said.
However, in many European countries where open standards have been adopted, site owners can mix and match open standards-based charging stations and choose a network provider that meets their business requirements and provides the best charging experience for their EV driver customers.
The Open Charge Alliance will release the next version of OCPP in the coming weeks. OCPP v2.0 features a more efficient, modern transport, while new messages supporting pricing, smart charging, and charging station health and maintenance, including device event notification and statistical reports.
OCA is currently developing a process for OCPP v2.0 compliancy and interoperability, in parallel with the last phase of protocol specification.