Like so many other technologies, standardization is essential for electric vehicles to become affordable and accessible to everyone. Once more, open source is helping.

Electric vehicle (EV) charging is experiencing an open source revolution. That’s a good thing because EV charging needs one. It’s not just that there aren’t enough chargers, though that’s part of it. It’s that public EV charging continues to be a pain in the rump. In 2023, JD Powers found that 25% of people found public charging unreliable. That’s way too high.

Why is it so bad? There are many reasons, but standardization is high on the list. You’d think it would be a no-brainer, but there’s no simple, standardized way to pay for your charge.

It seems every annoying EV charging network demands you download its own app. Worse still, these electric stations’ top failure, according to Car and Driver, is that their apps won’t connect properly over half the time–55%. The next highest point of failure? The internal station hardware or software fails 38% of the time.

Linux Foundation (LF) Energy, the open source foundation focused on improving our energy systems through collaborative software and hardware technologies, addresses this and other issues with the release of CitrineOS 1.3.0. In partnership with S44, this latest version marks a significant advancement in CitrineOS’ implementation of an Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) 2.0.1 compliant Charging Station Management System (CSMS).

CitrineOS addresses a critical challenge in the EV charging industry: The lack of interoperability between different charging systems. By providing a standardized, open platform that supports the OCPP 2.0.1 protocol, CitrineOS enables charging station operators to upgrade their networks and offer a more consistent user experience across different charging stations and vehicle models.

The motivation behind CitrineOS stems from the fragmented nature of the EV charging ecosystem. All the many stakeholders – from EV manufacturers to charging station providers to EV-changing companies – make decisions in isolation, leading to straight to compatibility problems. By embracing open source principles, CitrineOS allows for community-driven development and testing, ensuring the platform is robust and adaptable to all stakeholders.

We’re also seeing that on the hardware side of EV charging, with the growing popularity of Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS), North American Tesla vehicles use this connector, and adapters are available for compatibility with other standards such as Combined Charging System (CCS) 1 and CHAdeMO. Many car manufacturers, such as General Motors, Ford and Mercedes-Benz, are also adopting NACS.

The new CitrineOS 1.3.0 release introduces several major features designed to streamline operations and enhance user experience:

  • Support for OCPP 2.0.1 Smart Charging, enabling intelligent and efficient charging station management, optimizing energy use and cost.
  • Support for the OCPI 2.2.1 protocol, which powers interoperability between charging networks and eMobility operators. This enables users to use one mobile app for all their charging station needs.
  • Open sourcing of Stackbox’s Payments module supplies a web payment option via Stripe, enhancing payment flexibility and security.
  • Introduction of the Scan and Charge feature to the Payments module, providing QR Codes to charging stations that, when scanned, send the user to a Stripe payment portal.
  • Charging Profiles: These partners provide smart charging enhancements to eMobility users during charging sessions.

Alex Thornton, LF Energy’s Executive Director, said, “As EV adoption continues to accelerate, initiatives like CitrineOS are essential to speed the deployment of reliable, interoperable EV chargers to ensure drivers can charge rapidly and conveniently. The latest release of CitrineOS helps push us further in that direction while optimizing for energy use and cost.”

Speaking as someone who plans on getting an EV real soon now, I’m looking forward to these improvements in EV charging.