Question 1

1. What does &#8220;OCPP compliant&#8221; actually mean?

Accepted Answer

On its own, very little. OCPP is modular: only the Core profile is mandatory in both 1.6 and 2.0.1, and everything else — firmware management, smart charging, reservation, local authorisation lists, advanced security — is optional. Two systems can both be truthfully described as OCPP compliant and share nothing beyond booting, authorising and reporting a transaction. Always ask which version and which profiles.

Question 2

2. Is OCPP certification mandatory for a charging platform?

Accepted Answer

No. Certification is voluntary, which is precisely why it is a useful filter — a vendor that has paid an independent laboratory to test a named product at a named software version has made a claim you can check. The Open Charge Alliance also recognises a weaker Vendor Declaration of Conformance, introduced in March 2025. Treat self-declaration, internal testing with the OCA test tool, and laboratory certification as three different levels of evidence.

Question 3

3. My charger is OCPP certified. Does that mean any backend will work with it?

Accepted Answer

No — the certifications are separate. A charging station certificate and a CSMS certificate cover different implementations of different roles, and neither says anything about the other end of the connection. Certified hardware on a certified backend is a good starting position; it is not a substitute for connecting your actual model to a trial tenant and running a firmware update, a charging profile and an offline authorisation against it.

Question 4

4. Can I buy OCPP 2.1 certified software today?

Accepted Answer

Not as certified. OCPP 2.1 was released in 2025, but the Open Charge Alliance certification programme currently covers OCPP 2.0.1 and 1.6 only — no 2.1 programme has opened. Any 2.1 support you are offered is a vendor claim you will have to validate yourself, which is a reasonable thing to buy on a roadmap but not something to treat as tested.

Question 5

5. How many charger models should an OCPP backend support?

Accepted Answer

The raw number matters less than its structure. Ask for models and firmware versions in production, not brands — a vendor citing twenty manufacturers may be running three models each from five of them. What you are really testing is whether adding a new model is routine work in an adaptation layer or a bespoke project on your instance, and the fastest way to find out is to ask what happened the last time an OEM firmware release broke an existing integration.

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cpo technology stack

OCPP Backend Software: How To Verify A Vendor’s Compliance Claim

OpenADR 3.0 for Charge Point Operators: The Grid-Facing Interface You’ll Need by 2027

OCPP 2.1 vs OCPP 2.0.1: What CPOs Need To Know Before Upgrading

Global EV Charging Software Trends: What Operators Should Watch