There is no worse user experience for an EV driver to show up for a seemingly available charger, only to find out that it is not in operation. The charger might be down for maintenance, or even be a fresh install that is not configured and published yet - but it is still displayed in the driver’s favorite charging app as being available.
This is a problem we are now trying to solve!
In these cases, the charge point operator (CPO) might have a need for fixing, testing and configuring the charger before it is ready to serve electricity to drivers. The CPO can of course un-publish the location or utilize the OCPP command of setting the EVSE as “unavailable” - but that makes the charger unavailable
for the technician as well…
With Spirii’s Temporary EVSE status feature, this problem can now be solved! Utilizing this feature, the CPO can set the EVSE into Maintenance or Commissioning mode.
This mode is then forwarded as an externally communicated status toward the various eMSPs (Spirii Go & branded apps, Roaming Hubs like Hubject, OCPI roaming partners, etc.).
The actual status of the charger is left untouched for the CPO and technician to operate and test on.
We have tried visualizing it here:
How to use it
You will find the temporary EVSE status functionality here:
- Navigate to the Location in Spirii Connect.
- Click the Charge Boxes tab.
- Click the arrow left of the relevant charge box, to unfold the EVSE's.
- Click the menu in the relevant EVSE.
- Click Set a temporary EVSE status.
- Select the relevant status, including a start date (optionally set an end date as well).
- Click Set status to save.
| 💡 Example: If the CPO sets the EVSE into “Maintenance mode,” then the EVSE will be displayed as either “Out of Service” or “Inoperative” depending on which charging they use. The charger will still be available at the location for the technician to work with. |
The status will automatically apply from the selected start date and will automatically be removed again from the selected end date.
How is the status displayed in the eMSP apps?
Here is a table of all the statuses and how they are translated, depending on each protocol:
| Temporary status | Spirii Go (& branded apps) | Hubject (OICP) | Roaming partners (OCPI) |
| Maintenance | Out of Service | Out of Service | Inoperative |
| Commissioning | Out of Service | Out of Service | Planned |
How is this visible for the CPO in Spirii Connect?
The temporary EVSE status will be displayed in the charge box list alongside the actual charger status.
This allows the CPO to monitor testing results of the charger (e.g., it’s successfully charging now) even whilst the status toward the drivers is presented as being out of service.
| ⚠️ Note: The status is only visible when it’s active. We’re working to improve the solution with an identifier for upcoming maintenance windows. |
Additional temporary statuses available via the Developer Hub
In addition to Maintenance and Planned status, the CPO also has access to allow external systems to set the temporary EVSE status as either Blocked or Reserved.
The Blocked status can be utilized by parking sensor providers to update the status to be either occupied or blocked (depending on the eMSP) if a car is registered to block the parking space in front of the charger.
The Reserved status can be utilized by booking & reservation providers to set the status to be reserved if the charger is booked upfront in that platform.
See more details in Spirii’s Developer Hub: Spirii API Introduction