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The Ultimate EV Charging Glossary
Every Term You Need to Know
AMPECO EV Charging glossary will give you a thorough understanding of the most common terms in the EV Charging ecosystem. It covers various topics from the main stakeholders’ business roles in the EV Charging to the technical terms regarding chargers, protocols, etc.
We hope our EV charging glossary will help you in your research, plans, or current business setup. If you need to learn more about the EV charging market, business opportunities, what you need to get started, and many more feel free to book a consultation with one of AMPECO’s eMobility experts.
Roles and business models in EV charging industry
Site Owner / Site Host / Location Host
Site owner is the entity, natural or legal person, that owns or operates the location where charge points are installed. Often these are retail chains, restaurants, business centres, parking operators, municipalities, etc.
EV Driver
EV driver is a person who is driving an EV (electric vehicle) and is using charging services at home, at work and in various public or private places.
Charge Point Operator (CPO)
Charge point operators install, manage, and ensure optimal operations of chargers/stations from one or more manufacturers. Moreover, they offer diagnostics, maintenance, price tariff management, and other value-added services to provide smooth network operation. Charge point operators may own the charging infrastructure and/or provide the connection to owners of EV charge points. Charge point operators can benefit from roaming network hubs and also provide eMSP (see definition below) service while allowing access to the charging stations in their network from other eMSPs. Usually, CPOs work in partnership with Site Owners to install chargers at their locations, collect operation fees and optionally share the EV charging revenue
Charge Point Installer (CPI)
Charge point installers usually sell, commission and maintain in optimal condition charger points from one or more manufacturers to location owners (also referred to as charge point hosts). Their customers can be residential (single homes or multi-family), retail, business centres, real estate developers, hotel chains, car dealers, parking operators, energy, oil and gas, CPOs, government (municipalities, councils) and pretty much everyone who owns or provides car parking space. They take care of the maintenance and support of the hardware. More and more charge point installers are looking into delivering EV charging software solutions to their customers – home charging, workplace charging and even CPO business opportunities.
Electro-mobility Service Provider (eMSP)
Electro-mobility Service Providers offer an EV charging service to EV drivers. They enable access to a large pool of charging points around a geographic area. They provide charger location and availability information, account details, payment capabilities, and more to ensure high driver satisfaction and retention levels. eMSPs serve both registered and unregistered customers, as is sometimes required by local regulations. The eMSP provides a CPO service and access to its charging stations and third party charging stations via direct or indirect roaming.
Roaming Network Operator (RNO)
The RNO operates a platform to exchange charging data between Charge Point Operators (CPOs) and Electromobility Service Providers (eMSPs). Large RNOs in Europe are Hubject, Gireve, and e-clearing. AMPECO’s EV charging Management Software supports OCPI-based roaming and can integrate with RNOs to enable EV roaming and provide EV drivers with access to charging stations from different providers.
Electric Vehicle Service Provider (EVSP)
The Electric Vehicle Service Provider (a.k.a the network provider) provides network charging stations connectivity. Connecting to a cloud-based server, the EVSP manages the backend software, database and communications to enable stations’ operations.
Electric Vehicle Fleet Operator
The EV Fleet Operator is responsible for the management and control of EV vehicle fleet charging. Electro-mobility’s main challenge is to ensure maximum availability and utilisation of vehicles, considering charging times and cost optimisation. EV fleet charging is prioritised based on fleet business priorities and the battery’s actual state of the electric vehicle.