Smart charging, explained
Smart charging means a charger adapts when and how fast it charges to what is happening around it: the grid connection, the building's consumption, solar production and energy prices. This page explains the mechanisms behind the term, plainly.
What smart charging covers three mechanisms behind one term
Vendors use the same two words for very different things. In practice almost everything sold as smart charging is one of three mechanisms, usually combined on one site.
Load balancing and peak shaving
A group of chargers shares one grid connection. The available current is divided across active sessions, and when the building draws more, chargers slow down so the site stays under its fuse limit or a peak threshold.
24 kW limit
Solar charging
Charging follows what the roof produces. Solar Only runs sessions purely on surplus; Smart Solar uses solar first and tops up from the grid to keep a minimum speed.
Price-based charging
With a dynamic energy contract, charging waits for the cheap hours. Day-ahead prices from EPEX or Nord Pool decide when sessions run, below a threshold you set or fully automatic.
How it works under the hood
Every mechanism above runs on the same simple loop: measure, decide, adjust. No control wiring, no on-site controller.
- 1
A meter reads the site
A wireless energy meter at the grid connection reports live consumption and solar production to the cloud.
- 2
The cloud decides
Plugchoice combines the meter data, the group's limits and your settings, and calculates how much current each charger gets right now.
- 3
OCPP tells the charger
The decision reaches the charger as a standard OCPP charging profile, the open protocol every modern charger already speaks.
- 4
Safe when data drops
If meter data or connectivity falls away, chargers fall back to a configured safe value, so the fuse is never at risk.
Smart charging on Plugchoice any charger, your backend kept
Plugchoice runs these mechanisms as a cloud service on top of what you already have. Chargers connect once, and the smart layer comes with the platform.
Any OCPP charger
The same balancing and tariff logic on every supported brand, AC or DC. No brand lock-in on the smart layer.
Wireless by design
A connected energy meter is enough. No control wiring between meter and charger, no on-site controller to install.
Your backend, kept
Through the OCPP Proxy the charger stays connected to your own billing or CSMS backend while Plugchoice adds smart charging.
Simple licensing
The platform is free. Smart Charging is the labelled add-on, priced per location on the pricing page.
Plugchoice
smart layer, always on
Your CSMS
your backend, kept
Everything your chargers get on Plugchoice smart charging is one add-on among a free platform
Connect your chargers and management, diagnostics and the driver app come on alongside the smart layer. Almost all of it is free, €0 forever. Only the few labelled add-ons cost extra.
Smart Charging and Billing are priced per charger. The Partner Program is only a flat platform fee per company, not a per-charger cost, and it unlocks everything in its column.
See complete pricingCharger Management
Locations & Teams
Charge Cards & Transactions
Interfaces
OCPP Proxy
Power Management
- Dynamic load balancing
- Solar balancingSmart Charging | €1.23/mo/evse
- Peak shavingSmart Charging | €1.23/mo/evse
- Power sharingSmart Charging | €1.23/mo/evse
- Start/stop schedulingSmart Charging | €1.23/mo/evse
- Wireless meter supportSmart Charging | €1.23/mo/evse
- Visual power configuratorSmart Charging | €1.23/mo/evse
Tariff Management
- Dynamic energy tariffsSmart Charging | €1.23/mo/evse
- Scheduled chargingSmart Charging | €1.23/mo/evse
Billing & Invoicing
- Automatic invoicing per charging sessionBilling & Invoicing | €5.95/mo/evse
- Reimburse employees for home chargingBilling & Invoicing | €5.95/mo/evse
- Per-user and per-card cost allocationBilling & Invoicing | €5.95/mo/evse
- VAT-ready invoices in your own brandingBilling & Invoicing | €5.95/mo/evse
- Accounting-ready exportsBilling & Invoicing | €5.95/mo/evse
Support
- In-app chat and email support
- Help center
- Priority responsePartner Program | €29/mo/account
- Custom SLACustom | Talk to us
Alerts
- Automatic alertingPartner Program | €29/mo/account
- Ticketing states, assignees and escalationPartner Program | €29/mo/account
- Automatic problem solvingPartner Program | €29/mo/account
Branding
- Whitelabel Web PortalPartner Program | €29/mo/account
- Custom domain with SSLPartner Program | €29/mo/account
- White labeled appCustom | Talk to us
Revenue & Commercial
- Revenue share on Smart ChargingPartner Program | €29/mo/account
- Revenue share on Billing & InvoicingPartner Program | €29/mo/account
- Revenue share on VPP and EREPartner Program | €29/mo/account
- Virtual shelf spaceCustom | Talk to us
- Joint marketingCustom | Talk to us
304
charger brands supported
1,033
charger models run
221
backends connected
Smart charging works on any OCPP charger, whatever brand you run today.
Smart charging without the rebuild
Connect your chargers, keep your backend, and switch on load balancing, solar and price-based charging from one platform.