Glossary

Key OCPP and EV charging terms used throughout this project.

OCPP

Open Charge Point Protocol — the communication protocol between EV charging stations (Charge Points) and charging station management systems (CSMS). OCPP 1.6 JSON is the primary protocol supported by DebugKit.

Charge Point (CP)

The physical EV charging station. Also referred to as a "station". Communicates with the CSMS via OCPP.

CSMS

Charging Station Management System — the central server that manages charging stations. Also referred to as "the backend".

Connector

A physical charging outlet on a charging station. A station may have multiple connectors (e.g., connector 0 is typically the whole-station connector, connector 1+ are individual charging outlets).

Transaction

A single charging session, initiated by a StartTransaction request and terminated by a StopTransaction request. Each transaction has a unique transactionId assigned by the CSMS.

Call

An OCPP message type (MessageTypeId = 2) representing a request from one side to the other. Format: [2, UniqueId, Action, Payload]

CallResult

An OCPP message type (MessageTypeId = 3) representing a successful response to a Call. Format: [3, UniqueId, Payload]

CallError

An OCPP message type (MessageTypeId = 4) representing an error response to a Call. Format: [4, UniqueId, ErrorCode, ErrorDescription, ErrorDetails]

idTag

An identifier (typically an RFID card or app token) used to authorize a charging session. The CSMS validates the idTag and returns an authorization status (Accepted, Invalid, etc.).

Trace

A capture of OCPP messages exchanged between a Charge Point and CSMS over a period of time. Traces are the primary input to DebugKit.

Direction

The direction of an OCPP message: CS_TO_CSMS (station to backend), CSMS_TO_CS (backend to station), orUNKNOWN.