At the recent Collision Conference (June 26 - 29) in Toronto, ChargeLab announced the launch of its public API for electric vehicle (EV) charger management, along with a developer program to fast-track adoption of the API.
ChargeLab builds software to operate and optimize EV charging equipment. The company's charging station management system (CSMS) empowers fleets, building operators, and utilities to deploy large numbers of EV chargers and manage them as an intelligent network.
Through the new developer program, the company stated that third-party developers can control EV chargers and access charging data for the purposes of integrating ChargeLab's core charger management capabilities within their own platforms and apps.
"We've already opened our APIs to fleet managers, parking operators, and smart building platforms who are building on top of ChargeLab's core EV charger management expertise," noted ChargeLab's CEO, Zak Lefevre. "ChargeLab's APIs are simple, powerful, and well-documented, designed from the ground-up for third-party use. What's most exciting is what new developers will dream up once they get their hands on these APIs."
Significantly, ChargeLab does not build any hardware. Instead, the company partners with top EV charger manufacturers such as ABB, Phihong, United Chargers, Siemens, and Tritium. ChargeLab and these manufacturers form part of an open EV charging ecosystem driven by the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP).
As noted by a company announcement:
Every OCPP-compliant EV charger interacts with the cloud in a slightly different way. Historically, this has made it costly and difficult for businesses to integrate EV charging into their existing fleet, parking, or building management systems. Now, developers can leverage ChargeLab's single set of APIs to easily add any OCPP EV charger to their own platform or app.
ChargeLab attests that its API factory not only enables fleet managers, site hosts, and charging network operators to build on top of ChargeLab's CSMS, but also allows for other third-party integrations such as CRM, accounting, or environmental impact software. ChargeLab adds that its new developer program "provides the fastest and easiest way for businesses to expand the scope of EV charging within their operations."
"Our focus is on building the best core platform to connect and mange EV chargers," concludes Ehsan Mokhtari, CTO of ChargeLab. "For advanced capabilities, we expect our customers, partners, and new third-party developers to build on top of our public APIs. That's why we've focused on a modular microservice architecture, making it easy to expose any part of our system—from charger status to pricing and power management."
