The Open Charge Point Protocol is the quiet standard that decides whether your charging estate is an open, future-proof system — or a pile of hardware you can never switch away from.
OCPP — the Open Charge Point Protocol — is an open communication standard between EV charge points and the management software that controls them, developed by the Open Charge Alliance (OCA). It lets operators switch networks without replacing hardware, keep their backend (CPMS) independent of the charger vendor, and let drivers roam and charge across networks. Its sibling protocol OSCP links charging to grid capacity.
An EV charger is only as useful as the system it talks to. OCPP — the Open Charge Point Protocol — is the language that lets a charge point and its central management software communicate, regardless of who made either one. It’s developed and continually enhanced by the international consortium the Open Charge Alliance (OCA), alongside its sibling protocol OSCP.
Because without an open protocol, every charger you buy ties you to one vendor’s software forever. OCPP breaks that lock-in:
Buy hardware locked to one network and you’ve bought a future migration project. Buy OCPP-compliant hardware and the software becomes a choice you can keep making.
OCPP governs the link between the charger and the backend. A different standard — ISO 15118 — governs the link between the vehicle and the charging station, and it’s what unlocks bi-directional, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging. Together with OSCP (which exposes grid capacity), these open standards reduce development cost, enable growth through interoperability, and establish a properly functioning market for EV operations rather than a set of walled gardens.
The protocol layer is also where safety lives. Through two-way communication between charger and car, the system automatically calibrates the correct current to use based on what’s available — from both the station’s capacity and the vehicle’s. An essential lock-out mechanism guarantees current doesn’t flow when the connector is unplugged, preventing battery damage, electrical shorts and fire.
We build OCPP-based, hardware-neutral charge management — so a site can mix AC and DC stations from any vendor and still be managed as one system. See it in practice in EV fleet load management, and read how the standards landscape is shaking out in competing charging standards.
We build OCPP-compliant, hardware-neutral charge management so your software stays a choice, not a cage. Let's talk.