OCPP is the open protocol between an electric-vehicle charging station and the network that operates it — the link that lets a charge point from one manufacturer be run by any management system. Version 1.6J uses JSON over WebSocket and remains the deployed majority; version 2.0.1 adds device management, smart charging and ISO 15118 plug-and-charge support. It is published by the Open Charge Alliance, which also runs conformance certification.
OCPP
OCPP solves the hardware lock-in problem in EV charging. Without it, a charge point is tied to the network its manufacturer sells; with it, an operator can run mixed estates and switch management systems without replacing hardware. It is the reason the charging market has any substitutability at all.
- Station-to-network, not network-to-network - OCPP governs the link between the charger and its operator. Roaming between operators is OCPI, a different standard solving a different problem. The two are routinely confused.
- 1.6J is still the field majority - JSON over WebSocket, widely deployed, and where most real estates sit despite 2.0.1 being available.
- 2.0.1 adds the parts operators actually need - device management, smart charging profiles, and the hooks for ISO 15118 plug-and-charge.
- Certified with dated approvals - the Open Charge Alliance publishes certification records, so a vendor’s claim is independently checkable. Blink Charging’s OCPP 2.0.1 certification carries a verifiable date; FLO runs 1.6J; Enphase implements 1.6 for vehicle-to-home charger control.
Why it belongs in this catalog
OCPP is a switching-cost standard, and that is the lens worth applying to it. An operator running certified OCPP hardware can change network provider; an operator on a proprietary protocol cannot. That is exactly the distinction the Kin Score’s roadmap identifies as unmeasured — a standard whose value is not the quality of the interface but the substitutability it creates.
It is recorded here from provider evidence in the API Evangelist catalog rather than from a published report: the EV-charging cohort scored in the energy quartet averages 27.3, near the bottom of the sector, and OCPP conformance is one of the few genuine quality signals inside that tier.
