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ChargeLab has officially launched OpenOCPP, a new open-source embedded software designed for electric vehicle (EV) chargers. This initiative aims to standardize and accelerate the development of EV charger firmware. Released under an Apache 2.0 license, OpenOCPP provides a hardware-agnostic, pre-certified software solution that supports both OCPP 1.6J and 2.0.1.
Key Highlights
- OpenOCPP is the industry’s first open-source, pre-certified software stack that is truly hardware-agnostic.
- It drastically reduces the firmware integration timeline for EV charger manufacturers from 18–24 months to a matter of weeks.
- The software features enterprise-grade security and is designed to be memory-efficient, capable of running on microcontrollers with as little as 4 MB of memory.
- OpenOCPP is compatible with any OCPP-compliant charging station management system (CSMS), preventing vendor lock-in.
Addressing Industry Challenges
The Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) is the global standard for communication between EV supply equipment (EVSE) and a CSMS. Historically, each EV charger manufacturer had to create its own firmware to use the protocol, a process leading to high costs, difficult integrations, and slow adoption of new standards.
OpenOCPP was developed to eliminate these barriers. “We’ve designed an incredibly memory-efficient embedded software stack that can run on any underlying hardware,” stated Ehsan Mokthari, CTO of ChargeLab. “OpenOCPP comes with enterprise-grade security pre-built, making it truly ready for rapid adoption by EV charger manufacturers”.
Features and Advantages
OpenOCPP offers significant benefits for EV charger manufacturers:
- Enterprise-Grade Security: The software includes a full implementation of OCPP 2.0.1 Security Profile 2.
- Pre-Certified Compliance: It passes the Open Charge Alliance’s (OCA) conformance test tool out-of-the-box and is ready for CTEP compliance.
- Hardware Agnostic: Its memory-efficient design is ideal for resource-constrained microcontrollers.
- Future-Proof Design: A modular architecture ensures readiness for future updates to industry standards.
- No Vendor Lock-In: It is fully compatible with the ChargeLab CSMS or any other compliant back-end system.
As a member of the Open Charge Alliance, ChargeLab will include OpenOCPP in the OCA Validation Test Bed to enhance conformance testing.
Proven Success and Early Adoption
One of the early adopters, FractalEV, a manufacturer of Level 2 AC chargers, has successfully used a beta version of OpenOCPP in its deployments across North America.
“ChargeLab’s embedded software stack allowed us to significantly shorten our firmware development timeline when designing our first EV charger,” said Chris Mendes, founder of FractalEV. “With OpenOCPP going open source, there is really no reason to look elsewhere for an OCPP communication stack”.
Currently, OpenOCPP is running on over 4,000 EV chargers, including those deployed for Fortune 500 clients with strict cybersecurity needs. As the project moves beyond its beta phase, ChargeLab is actively seeking new adopters and contributors.
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