EV routing features for CPOs and eMSPs

Valentina Neri Serneri Sep 23, 2021 · 4 min read

Broken charge stations, unknown locations, and incompatible plug types are just some of the pitfalls drivers face when navigating the EV ecosystem. However, it doesn’t have to be this difficult. At Chargetrip we’ve developed tools (such as our EV routing engine) which helps CPOs and eMSPs make drivers’ journey along the electric-powered highway smooth and seamless. Let’s dig a little deeper.

Flexible operator preference

CPOs and eMSPs have the freedom to apply their own business rules within the framework of their EV application. This allows businesses to route drivers through charge stations of their choice via a Chargetrip implemented flexible operator preference.

  • Required operators: If you list required operators, our routing engine will try to find a route only with those operators. If these routes are not available, the algorithm will not return a result.

  • Preferred operators: If you have ongoing relationships with some operators, our algorithm will be able to show them different stations, based on a 10-level system, routing drivers accordingly. Even if no preferred operators’ station is available on the requested route, our routing engine will return a route suitable for the user.

  • Excluded operators: As the name suggests, you can list operators you don’t want the routing engine to consider when computing the route. If it’s impossible to avoid an operator, we won’t return a route.

You can also set up the app to let end-users prefer or exclude certain operators on your front end.

Pre-integrated or custom station database

Chargetrip’s Open Charge Point Interface (OCPI) compliant database stores information about all charge station locations — there are over 300,000 EVSEs (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) in Europe — using data from our premium provider, Eco-Movement. In addition, we can also integrate a database from other third-party providers as well as incorporating your own custom database.

We recommend using the richer charge station database, displaying the live status and tariff to ensure the best EV routing experience for drivers.

Tile Service

Charge station maps gulp down memory space and data, slowing down operations by several precious seconds as you drive, before rendering a coveted charge station icon.

To solve this dilemma, each map can be divided into image tiles, each one containing only a fractional set of data such as local street names, amenities, and charge points. The use of vector tiles allows icons to appear once you zoom in on a specific area. With the Chargetrip tile service, complex filtering and clustering operations happen in the backend, speeding up the charging time further. A Vector Tile Service is a crucial function to improve the UX of a map.

The Chargetrip tile service can be used with our premium Eco-Movement charge station database and a client’s custom database. In addition, it easily integrates with Mapbox, our recommended map provider.

EV database and consumption model

With car manufacturers bringing new EV models to the market every week, it’s difficult for CPOs and eMSPs to update their EV database efficiently. To overcome this, Chargetrip sources car data from third parties, enriching our database to ensure accurate and optimal information for drivers. This is accomplished in 3 ways:

  • Car model version: When a car manufacturer uses a blanket model version across all trims for consecutive years or simply does not provide a version name at all, drivers can select their own car model.

  • Chargetrip range: We have road-tested our database in Norway, the most mature EV market in the world, for over four years. Using the data garnered from both machines and humans we have improved our EV consumption model database to create an index value that we consider to be the most accurate available.

  • Fast charging support: When we compute a route, we only consider fast and ultrafast chargers. This reduces charging time and thus creates faster routes. In our EV database, we specify which vehicles support fast charging which equates to a minimum charging power of 43 kW.

Station review module

Users can add reviews about charge stations in real-time, allowing other drivers using the app to consult them. These reviews are stored per client, and cannot be shared with other applications.

📌 Curious to know more about EV routing? Let’s plan an introduction call. Please send an email to info@chargetrip.com or reach out to us via chat on our website.