A smart charging profile is the OCPP mechanism a management platform uses to tell a charger how much power it may deliver, and when. In plain terms it is a power limit with a schedule attached, sent from the backend to one connector, one station, or a group of stations. A charger can hold several profiles at once, and the most restrictive one that applies at a given moment is the one that governs.
Key Takeaways
- A smart charging profile is an OCPP power limit with a schedule, sent by the platform to a connector, a station, or a group.
- Several profiles can apply at once; the most restrictive one governs at any moment.
- Profiles ration a fixed supply and shift energy into cheaper hours — they do not create capacity.
- EVDANCE offers no platform and no site-wide load-management product; profile support in a pairing is a written-confirmation item.
What a Profile Carries, at Concept Level
| Element | Plain meaning |
|---|---|
| The limit | A ceiling on charging power or current. It is a maximum, not a target — the car may draw less, and often does |
| The schedule | The time windows the limit applies to, including recurring patterns such as an overnight cap or a peak-hours reduction |
| The scope | What the limit binds: a single connector, a whole station, or a group of stations treated as one pool |
| The source | Profiles can originate at different levels of the system, and where several apply together, the most restrictive wins |
The stacking behaviour is the part operators rely on most: a site-level ceiling can sit above a station-level schedule, and the charger simply obeys whichever limit is lowest at that moment. No new instruction is needed when the binding constraint changes from one layer to another.
Why Sites Use Them
- Hold a group under the site supply ceiling. Several stations sharing one supply can be capped as a pool, so the combined draw stays inside the capacity the building actually has — the planning side of that problem is covered in our guide to load calculation basics.
- Move energy into cheaper hours. A schedule that lowers limits during peak-price windows and relaxes them overnight is the protocol-level machinery behind the tariff strategy in our guide to smart charging and time-of-use tariffs.
- Protect a session already running. A cap limits what a charger may offer; it does not create capacity. Rationing a fixed supply across more cars is what profiles are for — whether that speeds or slows an individual session is covered in our explainer on load balancing and charging speed.
Where Profiles Live — and the EVDANCE Position
A profile is authored in the management platform and carried to the charger by OCPP; the charger enforces it. That division matters when you read a listing. The EV-AC03201T states OCPP 1.6J, which is the protocol connection over which profiles travel — but the listing itself names no smart-charging profiles, so profile support in a specific pairing is a written-confirmation item with EVDANCE and the platform provider, not an assumption. The EV-ACS3210E states “OCPP-ready” only, a weaker claim that names no version. And the boundary is plain: EVDANCE makes charging hardware. It offers no management platform that authors profiles, and no site-wide load-management product — the platform in your project is a separate service, run by its own provider. See the wider range on the commercial charging page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a smart charging profile slow every session down?
No. A profile is a ceiling, not a setting. Cars drawing below the ceiling are unaffected; the cap binds only when total demand would otherwise pass it, which is exactly the peak moment it exists for.
Who decides the limits — the charger or the platform?
The platform authors profiles and sends them; the charger stores and enforces them. If the platform connection is lost, the behaviour that follows is a property of the specific pairing, which is why it belongs in the written confirmation before a site depends on it.
Can a profile override what my car asks for?
No. The profile caps what the station side may offer. The car’s own acceptance limit still governs from its side, and a session always runs at the lowest of the applicable limits.
Related Reading
- Smart Charging and Time-of-Use Tariffs: How Scheduling Cuts EV Charging Costs
- OCPP Explained: What Charge Point Operators Need From EV Charger Hardware
- Adding EV Chargers to a Building: Load Calculation Basics
- Does Load Balancing Increase EV Charging Speed?
