What is an OCPP smart-charging profile?

An OCPP smart-charging profile is a set of power or current limits sent between a charging station management system (CSMS or CPMS) and a charger. It tells the charger how much energy may be delivered at particular times. This lets the wider system coordinate charging without controlling the communication between the vehicle and charger.

 

OCPP 1.6 introduced smart-charging support for load balancing and charging profiles. Later versions add more detailed controls, but the basic principle remains the same: the CPMS calculates a limit, sends a profile and the charger applies it locally.

What information does a charging profile contain?

A profile normally identifies where it applies, its purpose, its priority and the schedule of limits. A schedule may use amperes or watts and can include several time periods. It may start immediately, begin at a defined time or repeat on a daily or weekly basis.

The three profile purposes in OCPP 1.6

ChargePointMaxProfile sets an overall ceiling for the charging station. It can limit the combined demand of all connectors so the site does not exceed an agreed capacity.

 

TxDefaultProfile provides a default limit for new transactions on a connector or across the station. It remains useful when no transaction-specific instruction has been applied.

 

TxProfile applies to one charging transaction. It can reflect a vehicle, user, tariff, departure time or energy-management decision. It normally takes precedence within the limits imposed by the wider station profile.

How profile stacking works

Several profiles can exist at the same time. Stack levels allow a higher-priority profile of the same purpose to override a lower one. The charger must then combine the applicable station, default and transaction limits to calculate the effective schedule.

Who decides the charging limit?

OCPP transports the instruction, but it does not decide the commercial or energy strategy. The calculation may sit in the CPMS, a site energy-management system, a local controller or another specialist service. Inputs can include the building load, grid connection, tariffs, renewable generation and the number of connected vehicles. Where the calculation sits outside the CPMS, its resulting limit still has to reach the charger through the CPMS over OCPP.

 

The charger still has to respect its own electrical limits and the current requested by the vehicle. A 22 kW charger cannot force a car to accept 22 kW, and an OCPP profile does not replace the EV-to-charger control defined by standards such as IEC 61851 or ISO 15118.

How this applies to amina charging stations

amina’s OCPP 1.6j documentation lists support for stacked charging profiles, absolute, relative and recurring schedules, current limits and composite schedules. The separate configuration reference exposes the device’s profile and schedule limits. Because firmware and factory provisioning can change these values, a CPMS should read the live configuration rather than assume fixed limits.

What should operators test?

  • whether the charger supports the required smart-charging feature set for the chosen OCPP version;
  • how it handles overlapping profiles, stack levels and expired schedules;
  • whether the selected charging-rate unit is supported and interpreted consistently;
  • how multi-connector stations share an overall limit;
  • what happens after a restart or loss of the CPMS connection;
  • whether the CPMS can read the resulting composite schedule; and
  • how quickly changes reach the charger and take effect.

“Supports OCPP” does not automatically mean that every smart-charging function is implemented or interoperable. Test the exact charger firmware and CPMS release before deployment.