FAQs
Copy linkIntegration
Q: What if we are already doing our own pairing and command orchestration? How will this affect us?
To mitigate any risk of disruption for customers who 1) link both vehicles and chargers AND 2) directly control those chargers via our API, we have proactively disabled certain EV Charger Pairing features across all of your API clients. This includes capability unlocking and command orchestration features.
The features released all customers previously, including returning the pluggedInChargerId and pluggedInVehicleId on the Vehicle and Charger endpoints respectively and improved charge rate handling, will continue to work.
Please contact your Customer Success Manager or Support if you would like to enable the full EV charger pairing solution.
Q: What if my user has a Tesla vehicle and charger?
While not required, you could optimise the linking experience for these users by leveraging our multi-type linking flow which allow you to initiate a single Tesla linking session that will allow them to link both devices.
Q: What edge cases should I be aware of?
Copy linkProduct behaviour
Q: How does Enode identify which charger is currently plugged into a specific vehicle?
By comparing the timestamps between plug-in events, transition into charging, charge rate correlations and location matching (if there is GPS support). The algorithm is currently tuned to minimise the possibility of false positives.
Q: What happens if I try to send commands directly to the charger when it has been paired with a vehicle?
Currently, commands sent to the Charger endpoint when a vehicle is actively paired will be executed on the charger only and the shared state updated on the Vehicle.
Q: What happens if a user has multiple vehicles or multiple chargers linked to their account?
Capabilities will be unlocked for each unique vehicle/charger combination that has been linked to the same user. We will not send commands to a charger until we've determined that it is plugged into a known vehicle.
Q: How does the “improved charge rate handling” feature interact with “Enhanced Charge Rate Estimate” feature?
If the “Enhanced Charge Rate Estimate” feature is enabled for your API client, then the charge rate from the charger will be ignored. Ahead of General Availability we will rationalise the different charge rate handling approaches with the goal of maximising accuracy using the available data.
Q: Do chargers report GPS coordinates or do they simply report a location set by the user?
Chargers don’t report GPS coordinates. A user is able to set an address via the first party app but this is very unreliable. We’ve observed that only 30% of users set an address on the app and even then, it's not guaranteed that the address is correct. Additionally, the user-input address might change at any point in time without notice.
Copy linkSupporting end users
Q: Can I see and manage charging pairs in the Dashboard?
Not yet but we’ll be working on this during the Beta and ahead of General Availability. Relevant charger pairing data will be surfaced in Asset View, Asset History and Insights features.
Q: How can I investigate and support user issues when control has been orchestrated by Enode? Will I still know which device failed or will I need Enode to troubleshoot for me?
It is currently not possible to debug orchestration plans and outcomes directly via the API. We're evaluating extensions to the API where we make this information available.
Copy linkMissing features
Q: Why aren’t unified controls available through the Charger API? We have pluggedInVehicle, but what about capabilities?
For the Beta release we want to keep things simple as most of our customers start with vehicle integrations. We may look to make the feature operate bi-directionally allowing customers to integrate with either the vehicle or charger endpoints, while still benefitting from the full charger pairing solution. For now this is not a priority.
Q: Can I control the max charging current or power through the pair?
This feature is not yet available but we’ll be working on this during the Beta and ahead of General Availability.
We currently support setMaxCurrent on chargers (see API documentationAPI) and plan to extend this feature to the Vehicle API provided the vehicle is 1) paired with a charger AND 2) the charger OEM supports the capability (not all of them do). At the same time we will consider changing the this feature to setMaxPower and enabling customers to set the max power (in kW) instead of current as we understand that this will be a more directly usable implementation for customers.
Q: Will I be able to retrieve OEM charging session statistics for charging pairs?
Not yet but it’s on our radar. We believe that the most accurate charging session statistics for billing and reconciliation purposes are provided natively by the charger OEM as they measure the actual energy drawn from the grid, prior to energy losses as a result of the charging process. We intend to extend our existing charger integrations to retrieve native statistics and make this available via our Statistics API. In instances where a vehicle has also been paired with a charger, we will be able to provide the native charging statistics for that vehicle’s charging sessions without customers having to extend their integration to retrieve them for the charger directly.