Frequently Asked Questions

What are the definitions of Public, Semi-Public (Restricted) and Private?

Public is assigned when the locations can be accessed 24/7 by everyone.

Semi-Public (Restricted) is assigned when the charging points are erected on private domain that are subject to specific, though non-discriminatory access restrictions, such as the usage of opening and closing hours as a requirement to use the associated facilities. For example, the recharging points in car parks of large warehouses or convenience stores, underground car parks, hotel and catering establishments, etc.

Private chargers are not accessible to the public, because they are placed on private locations like a private driveway. For example, some chargers are accessible only to the employees of a company or to the residents of a building.

How can I identify unique EVSEs?

Every unique EVSE_ID is one unique EVSE.

How can I identify unique locations?

Every unique Location_id value is one unique location.

What is the difference between an EVSE, a location, and a connector?

The charging topology, as relevant to the eMSP, consists of three entities:

• EVSE - Controls the power supply to a single EV in a single session. An EVSE may provide multiple connectors, but only one of these connectors can be active at a time.
• Location - A group of one or more EVSEs that belong together geographically or spatially.
• Connector - A specific socket or cable available for the EV.

Why should I use the prices endpoint instead of the tariffs endpoint?

The tariffs endpoint returns the raw tariffs that were shared with Eco-Movement by the CPOs using the OCPI protocol. It does not have any contributions from other sources to improve the values in the response. Alternatively, the prices endpoint returns a list of MSP prices and CPO ad hoc prices at the connector level. Hence, the prices endpoint is much more complete and is contributed by multiple sources, which improve the values in the response.

For example, consider the following two responses. The first response is from the tariffs endpoint, which only has limited information about the price.

{
  "timestamp": "2021-03-12T05:34:48",
  "status_code": 1000,
  "status_message": "Success",
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "98c6f2c2287f4c73cea3d40ae7ec3ff2",
      "currency": "EUR",
      "tariff_alt_text": [
        {
          "language": "en",
          "text": "EVnetNL"
        }
      ],
      "tariff_alt_url": "",
      "last_updated": "2018-09-25T23:12:51Z",
      "elements": [
        {
          "price_components": [
            {
              "type": "ENERGY",
              "price": 0.25,
              "step_size": 1
            }
          ],
          "restrictions": [
            {
              "start_time": null,
              "end_time": null,
              "start_date": null,
              "end_date": null,
              "min_kwh": null,
              "max_kwh": null,
              "min_power": null,
              "max_power": null,
              "min_duration": 0,
              "max_duration": 86400,
              "day_of_week": null
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Now, compare the above response with the below response from the prices endpoint. The response for the prices endpoint is more detailed with information about the subscription, subscription type, value added tax, etc. Also, the response contains this detailed information for each connector.

{
  "timestamp": "2021-12-06T14:50:07",
  "status_code": 1000,
  "status_message": "Success",
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "4923170c-f034-4424-a320-fb3858e518ec",
      "price_list": [
        {
          "partner": "Maingau Energie",
          "product": {
            "name": "EinfachStromLaden",
            "description": "Extra parking cost of 10 cent per minute apply after 240 minutes of AC charging and after 60 minutes of DC charging. ",
            "subscription_type": "month",
            "subscription_fee_excl_vat": 0,
            "currency": "EUR"
          },
          "elements": [
            {
              "type": "ENERGY",
              "price_excl_vat": 0.25,
              "vat": 19
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "partner": "Plugsurfing",
          "product": {
            "name": "Plugsurfing Plus",
            "description": "Plus",
            "subscription_type": "month",
            "subscription_fee_excl_vat": 6.6,
            "currency": "EUR"
          },
          "elements": [
            {
              "type": "ENERGY",
              "price_excl_vat": 0.26,
              "vat": 21
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "partner": "Vattenfall",
          "product": {
            "name": "Vattenfall",
            "description": "Incharge, 15% Discount on McDonalds Stations, Discounted prices may apply in certain Netherlands Regions",
            "subscription_type": "month",
            "subscription_fee_excl_vat": 0,
            "currency": "EUR"
          },
          "elements": [
            {
              "type": "ENERGY",
              "price_excl_vat": 0.33,
              "vat": 21
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}