Why integrations are reshaping EV charging

Everyone’s chasing the next charger innovation: faster speeds, more ports, sleeker designs. And that’s fine. But what we often don’t talk about is what’s powering the charger ecosystem behind the scenes: integrations.

As someone who works on the software and integration side of this industry, I can tell you: the hardest part is not always the hardware. It’s everything in between.

It’s a complex choreography between the charger, the app, the grid, the energy provider, the billing engine, and even your rooftop solar panels, aka the ecosystem (favourite word, for a reason). When everything works, nobody notices. When one thing fails in this ecosystem, support tickets start flying.

The EV ecosystem is growing up. And with maturity comes complexity because again it is an ecosystem.

Where you once had a charger and an app, now you have:

• External CRMs and fleet tools
• Grid signals and DSO authorisation flows
• Energy tariffs that shift by the hour
• Wallet integrations, loyalty programmes, and third-party hardware

Each layer introduces a new “integration point”. But more connections don’t mean better outcomes not unless those integrations are managed, monitored, and made to scale.

This is why the industry is moving beyond “we have an API” to thinking of integrations as a service.

Too many companies still treat integrations like plug-ins: someone asks for something → engineers hack it in → hope it doesn’t break.

That’s fine if you’re integrating once. But not when your entire charging logic depends on external systems being in sync.

The biggest risks?

• Silent failures that result in incomplete sessions or incorrect energy readings
• Data mismatches across platforms
• Inconsistent user experiences from partner to partner

The most forward-looking operators aren’t building custom one-offs anymore they’re investing in integration layers.

That includes:

• Declarative workflows and self-service onboarding for partners
• Observability tooling to detect issues before users notice
• Versioned APIs with clear governance and rollout plans

It’s less glamorous than launching “v4 ultra-rapid charging”, but a lot more impactful.

Because when your charger can plug into anything, anywhere, your business becomes ten times more scalable. Repeat after me: we need to think more in terms of Service as a Service (SaS).

Here’s where things get interesting: integrations are no longer just pipelines. They’re becoming intelligent systems.

This is where artificial intelligence comes into play; not in a flashy, sci-fi way, but in deeply useful, invisible ways.

Here is what’s coming:

• Fleet-aware charging → integration layers that can adjust priorities automatically, based on live delivery schedules, weather forecasts, and grid stress signals.
• Solar and tariff optimisation → smart connectors that predict when home solar output will peak or when tariffs drop, and shift charging to maximise savings.
• Grid- and CO₂-aware decisions → systems that know when to pause or delay charging based on upcoming power cuts, carbon intensity, or user behaviour and do it without spamming you with constant notifications.

Some of this is already being piloted by companies such as ev. energy, Octopus, and GridX.

And from my perspective: the next level of integrations will feel more like orchestration than configuration.

They won’t just follow rules. They’ll learn, adapt, and evolve.

And that’s when integrations stop being invisible and start becoming invaluable.