Charge on solar and in cheaper hours.
Plugchoice keeps charging within the limit you set, follows your solar panels and plans charging on the hourly price. It works with OCPP 1.6J chargers, depending on model, firmware and configuration.
Load balancing on the main fuse
Plugchoice reads the meter and keeps your chargers within what the building leaves on the main fuse. When the kitchen turns on, the cars slow down for a moment. See the integration list
Charge on solar surplus
The meter shows what your solar panels export. Plugchoice gives the car that surplus, in the mode you pick in the app.
Peak shaving under a capacity tariff
A capacity tariff bills your quarter-hour peak. A second, lower ceiling on grid import keeps that peak low.
Dynamic tariffs
Day-ahead prices arrive in 15-minute slots. Below the threshold the car charges; above it, the car waits.
Automatic takes the median of the day. Manual takes your own ct/kWh. In the EU and the UK.
Car parks and larger sites
In the portal you draw the site as groups under the main fuse, side by side or nested, with a meter at any point. Solar, prices and the building's own use count for every group. The web portal
What it needs
A wireless meter
A Chargee Sparky (in the Netherlands and Belgium) or Flint on the main connection, for load balancing, solar and peak shaving. No control cable between meter and chargers.
An OCPP 1.6J charger
The logic runs in the cloud. A basic charger gets the same smart charging as an expensive one. See the integration list
A Smart Charging license per socket
From €29 a year. The platform itself is free.
How it works
Every 15 seconds, Plugchoice reads the meter, works out what each charger may draw, and sends the limit to the charger over standard OCPP.
- Simple on purposeOne loop and one limit per connector, in the platform and not in a box on the wall.
- The reason for every limitThe app and the web portal show why a charger draws what it draws.
- Help center and supportThe help center explains every smart charging feature, and our support answers in the app and by email.
When something drops out
When the connection, the meter or Plugchoice itself drops out, the chargers drop to the fallback limit they support.
- A fallback limit on the chargerWhen smart charging takes over a charger, it first sets a fallback limit of 8 A on the charger itself.
- Every limit runs outA limit lasts two minutes and is renewed within 90 seconds. A charger that loses its connection drops back to 8 A.
- No meter reading, 8 AWhen the meter has not reported for 60 seconds, every charger in the group gets 8 A until the meter reports again.
- The trip curve of the breakerAbove the rating of the fuse, Plugchoice follows the trip curve of the breaker (IEC 60898-1, C curve) when it lowers the load.
Questions about smart charging
The platform is free. Load balancing, solar, peak shaving, tariffs and sharing between chargers are one license, Smart Charging: €29 a year, €89 for five years or €199 once, per AC socket, including VAT. Every charger on the location needs it.
Chargee Sparky (in the Netherlands and Belgium) and Flint. CT clamps and Eastron meters connect through the Flint. The meter talks to Plugchoice over the internet, so nothing runs between the meter cupboard and the chargers.
With OCPP 1.6J chargers, depending on model, firmware and configuration. The logic runs in the cloud and reaches the charger as a charging profile, so a mixed fleet behaves the same.
Load balancing, solar and scheduled charging everywhere. Dynamic tariffs in the EU and the UK. Peak shaving where the grid bills a capacity tariff.
Start in the web portal
Create a free account, point a charger at wss://ocpp.plugchoice.com and it appears in the portal.
Charging at home? Get the app.