An uptime guarantee in a charging tender is not a percentage typed into a bid form. It is a bundle of definitions set by the tender document: what counts as available, how downtime is measured, what is excluded, how results are reported, and what happens if the target is missed. The one fixed figure many bidders will meet is programme-set — US corridor stations funded under NEVI must average above 97 percent uptime per port per year. Everything else is written by the buyer. Read it exactly before signing.
Key Takeaways
- An uptime guarantee is a bundle: definition, measurement, exclusions, reporting, remedy — all set by the tender documents.
- The only widely fixed figure is programme-set: NEVI-funded US corridor ports must average above 97 percent uptime.
- The operator who runs the monitoring-and-repair chain signs the number; the hardware supplier signs evidence about the exact model.
- Never let a manufacturer’s name carry an uptime promise it never published — EVDANCE publishes no uptime record.
What the Guarantee Is Actually Made Of
Each element below is defined somewhere in the tender documents; a missing one is itself a question for the clarification period.
| Element | What the tender document defines | Question to close before signing |
|---|---|---|
| Availability definition | What “working” means: powered, reachable, able to start and complete a session | Does a port with a failed payment reader count as down? |
| Measurement unit and window | Per port or per site, and the period the average is taken over | Is one long outage averaged away, or does it fail the period on its own? |
| Exclusions | Events that do not count as downtime, such as upstream grid outages or vandalism | Who decides whether an event was excluded, and from what evidence? |
| Reporting | The data source, format and frequency the buyer expects | Can our platform produce that report, in that format, from day one? |
| Remedy | What follows a miss: a cure period, a service credit, a payment reduction, or a contract consequence | What exactly do we lose, and after how many misses? |
Who Can Honestly Sign It
Uptime is delivered by a chain, not a component: monitoring that sees the fault, spares that reach the site, and a field service that restores the port. The operator who runs that chain is the party who can honestly commit to the number. A hardware supplier sits one step back. Its honest contribution is evidence about the exact model tendered: test documentation, the certification file for that configuration, and the warranty terms behind it. EVDANCE’s standard warranty is 3 years — a hardware commitment, not a network uptime record; we publish none. A bid that lets the manufacturer’s name carry a promise it never made has misassigned the risk.
The hardware carries one part of the reporting chain: a networked station such as the EV-AC03201T dual-connector AC station (two Type 2 connectors, up to 43 kW shared, OCPP 1.6J, RFID, IP54) reports its status to the operator’s platform, where uptime data comes from. What hardware states, and what a platform does with it, is set out in our guide to OCPP for charge point operators and in how commercial charging stations work. Suppliers can request model documents via the distributor programme or contact us.
Before You Bid the Number
- Read the measurement clause first. The definition and exclusions decide more than the headline percentage does.
- Test your reporting. If the contract wants a monthly per-port report, produce a sample from your platform before you bid, not after you win.
- Count your restoration chain. Map spares, technicians and escalation against the tender’s sites; a commitment your coverage cannot reach is a penalty already accepted.
- Price the risk where it belongs. The cost of holding uptime sits in the service years — monitoring, spares, call-outs — not the hardware line.
Frequently Asked Questions
What uptime figure do tenders usually require?
There is no universal figure; each buyer’s documents set their own, and some set none for smaller contracts. The published benchmark bidders most often meet is the US NEVI rule: funded corridor ports must average above 97 percent uptime, stay open 24/7 and accept contactless payment. Treat any other figure mentioned as a document to read, not a norm to assume.
Can a charger manufacturer guarantee our network’s uptime?
No. A manufacturer can warrant its hardware and supply the documents behind it. Uptime also depends on the site’s power supply, the platform link, spare parts and the operator’s response — links the manufacturer does not control. Contracts that need an uptime guarantee should take it from the operator.
What happens if we miss the target?
Whatever your contract’s remedy element says — which is why it is read before signing, not after the first miss. If the documents are silent, raise it during clarification; an unanswered remedy question is a risk priced at zero.
Related Reading
- How Do Commercial EV Charging Stations Work?
- Commercial EV Charger Maintenance Checklist
- OCPP Explained: What Charge Point Operators Need From EV Charger Hardware
- How to Open an EV Charging Station: Step by Step
