To attract EV drivers and keep them happy, every CPO strives for the best charging station uptime. To ensure public charging stations' reliability, the UK government brought in some regulation changes to the EV charging landscape.
The UK Public Charge Point Regulations, aimed at defining the future of public EV charging, came into effect on November 24 last year. However, certain requirements provided operators with a one-year window to comply. Failure to meet these requirements could result in significant penalties. A year has passed, and we're here to help ensure you're fully prepared for these changes.
Understanding the Regulation: What’s Happening and Why It Matters
The UK Public Charge Point Regulations is a strategic initiative, applicable for public charge points in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is a continuation of The Electric Vehicles Regulations (2021), which focused on private charging. The main goals are reliability, accessibility and transparency. The key objective is to make using public EV charging infrastructure as seamless and easy to use for EV drivers as possible, strengthen public trust in the reliability of the EV charging infrastructure, to support the transition to a greener future.
At first, the regulatory changes may seem overwhelming but remember: enhancing the reliability of EV charging and creating a seamless user experience can significantly boost the utilisation of your charging stations.
Let’s focus on the three different layers of change this regulation is bringing to the EV charging world and explain what each of them means for your operations. Using Ocean CPMS ensures compliance with the regulations, making sure you're fully prepared. We're here to support you every step of the way.
1. Transparency
The Power of Data
According to these regulations each charge point should be able to share location, availability, price and power output data via OCPI protocol. Within one year of these rules taking effect, a CPO must maintain specific data for each public charging point, including accuracy, location, and EVSE status data. This data must be submitted electronically to the Secretary of State and other relevant authorities upon request.
Additionally, it must be freely accessible to the public in a machine-readable format without usage restrictions. CPOs must maintain accurate data for their public charge points in compliance with the data requirements and ensure the data is opened starting 24 November 2024. The penalty for non-compliance can be as high as £10,000 per charge point.
Ocean CPMS is OCPI-compliant for both CPO and EMSP roles, enabling seamless integration with your chosen networks. Its Analytics module allows you to monitor network performance, create custom reports, export data, or automate data capture through APIs.
For advanced reporting, Ocean integrates with Power BI and supports customised insights through the Data Warehouse. You can use predefined templates or your preferred reporting tools to tailor data to your needs. Data submission remains the responsibility of the partner.
Ocean also provides a comprehensive API suite for external systems to access critical infrastructure data, including real-time charge point messages and availability updates. Automated reports delivered to CPOs and Sub-CPOs include essential KPIs, operational insights, and performance metrics to support informed decision-making and optimise network efficiency.
Clearly Displayed Pricing
To ensure that the EV drivers know how much they are paying for the charging session, the total price for charging an EV in pence per kWh (p/kWh) must be shown either on the charger or on a separate device that doesn’t require a prior contract with the company. Note that this is the requirement that took effect immediately in November last year, when the regulation came into effect.
Ocean CPMS offers a sophisticated billing engine that provides exceptional flexibility, accommodating various use cases tailored to specific markets. Drivers are always informed in advance about the applicable pricing even if they are not registered:
- Ad-hoc web app which is opened by scanning a QR code that is ideally shown on the charger’s screen. EV driver can see all components of price before starting a charging session without registration.
- Ad-hoc payment terminal where Ocean supports to show the price component for each selected connector before user confirms and starts a charging session with the swipe or credit card on the terminal.
- Mobile application supports to show the price of charging for non-registered.
We ensure transparent communication with EV drivers through payment terminals, an Ad-hoc web app, and native mobile applications (for Android and iOS). For each we ensure capability to display EV driver real-time information on the current cost of the session, calculated based on the tariffs and the energy transferred from the station. Immediately after a charging session, the driver is notified of the total cost based on the predefined tariff with capability to receive a charging receipt.
2. Reliability
Maintaining 99% Uptime
Rapid charging points (50kW and above) must maintain an operational uptime of 99% over the course of a year. The CPO must publish information on their website about how effectively they meet the reliability standard. The penalty for non-compliance is up to £10,000 per network.
By using our Ocean monitoring tools, you have a clear overview which allows you to efficiently track the performance of your chargers and analyse the data to ensure operating at an optimal level. With the continuous system updates and improvements, we are delivering constantly improved automated self-healing solutions for the services you provide and chargers you operate increasing the charging network uptime without a human intervention.
24/7 Support
As a CPO, you must provide a 24/7 toll-free helpline with staff available year-round. This must be accessible through a free phone number, not only via an app. The helpline number should be clearly posted at or near the charging station. The charging station company must keep a log of all calls to the helpline and submit a detailed report to the government every quarter, with the first due by the end of December 2024. The required time for implementation is one year from the regulation taking effect. The penalty for not doing so is up to £10,000 per charge point.
Ocean CPMS includes embedded first-level support for EV drivers directly within the driver app and enables integration with third party help desk systems which are displayed to EV drivers as an embedded component of EV driver’s application. Drivers can reach out for assistance via chat, while the Help Desk Ocean module allows CPOs and EMSPs to feature their own contact information—such as a phone number and email address—for seamless support. Ocean also offers multi-level access to support personnel, ensuring visibility over the needed information.
3. Accessibility
Contactless Payments
To ensure easier payments, new public charge points (from 8 kW and above) must offer contactless options, CPOs are required to implement contactless payment methods within one year. For rapid charging stations (over 8kW) that were in operation before the regulations came into effect, contactless payment must be implemented within one year since these regulations were enacted. Non-compliance penalty: up to £10,000 per charge point.
Ocean CPMS is offering agnostic capability of integrating with different payment terminals, ensuring the EV driver can avoid registering and subscriptions and can simply use a payment card or mobile phone to pay for the charging session. In Ocean CPMS we strive for agnostic solutions of plug-and-play contactless payment terminals that:
- Can be used at any OCPP managed charger brand or model (old or new charger) in different modes such as 1 terminal – 1 charger or as a Kiosk mode: 1 terminal – many chargers,
- ensuring easy & fast commissioning with operator self-configurable approach,
- capabilities to follow charging session remotely after the start & providing ability to download the charging receipt.
We provide agnostic and customizable end-to-end solutions for any CPO on any market. and today enabling the following plug & play solutions to CPOs:
- Payter Apollo & P66 terminals enabled through Cloud2Cloud integration,
- payment terminal vendors integrated via OCPI protocol, such as Nayax VPOS, VPOS Media 5 & Kiosk terminals,
- Ocean Payment Terminal API, a plug-and-play solution tailored to market-specific requirements, designed for companies to integrate with their own payment terminals of choice,
- payment terminals integrated directly by the charging station vendor.
Roaming
Within two years of these legislation taking effect, every CPO is required to enable payment for EV charging through a roaming-compatible service from a third-party provider. If you already support payment via a roaming provider when the rules come into force, you’ll need to notify the government of the roaming providers you work with within 28 days. The penalty for non-compliance is up to £10,000 per charge point.
Ocean CPMS enables all leading interoperability protocols (OCPI, OICP) and enables integration capabilities with any OCPI-based platform while it offers plug & play connection with the following already supported platforms: Hubject, Gireve, ENAPI, eClearing, Plugsurfing, Digital Charging Solutions & Has-to-Be (ChargePoint).
In conclusion, with Ocean CPMS, you're equipped to meet the UK EV Charging Regulations with ease. Our solutions ensure that your charging stations provide transparent, reliable, and accessible services, meeting the standards for uptime, payment convenience, and data transparency. As these regulations take effect, our tools and expertise allow you to stay fully compliant and focused on enhancing the EV driver experience.
Want to know more? Reach out to our CPMS specialists!
