A charging network lives longer than any protocol version, regulation date or software supplier. The practical question is not how to predict what changes, but how to build so that a change touches one component and not the whole network.
Plan for several OCPP versions at once
OCPP 1.6 was published in 2015, 2.0.1 in 2020 and 2.1 was announced on 23 January 2025 according to the Open Charge Alliance. The Alliance states that 1.6 and 2.0.1 are not compatible and continues to support both. OCPP 2.1 extends 2.0.1, and application logic written for 2.0.1 keeps working. It adds, among other things, bidirectional energy flows (V2X), distributed energy resources, support for ISO 15118-20 and local cost calculation on the charger. OCPP is also an international standard, IEC 63584, published in October 2024 on the basis of 2.0.1.
Two consequences. First, your CSMS will manage chargers of different versions for years, so it should speak each version natively instead of forcing a migration. Second, do not read more into OCPP than the law does: the AFIR does not name OCPP. For points in buildings, the EPBD asks for non-proprietary, non-discriminatory and interoperable communication protocols (article 14(6)).
Design around dated obligations
The AFIR places concrete requirements on the technical stack:
Keep a register per charger: installation or renovation date, power, OCPP version, ISO 15118 level, payment method. It tells you what each obligation requires site by site.
Separate roaming from the charger protocol
OCPP links the charger to your CSMS. Roaming is another interface, between operators and mobility service providers. OCPI automates it (authorisation, charge point information, charging records), and its latest version is 2.3.0. Hubject, which operates the OICP protocol, now supports OCPI natively while keeping OICP, according to its own announcement. The AFIR does not impose OCPI or any roaming obligation; it requires ad hoc payment without a contract and forbids mobility service providers from adding extra charges for cross-border roaming. Keep this interface in its own module so that adding a roaming protocol does not touch the charger layer.
Treat data as a product
Article 20 of the AFIR requires operators to publish static data (location, connectors, power, hours) and dynamic data (operational status, availability, ad hoc price) free of charge through an API declared to the national access point. Under implementing regulation 2025/655, the format follows DATEX II from 14 April 2026. The Commission is to set up a common European access point by 31 December 2026.
On the grid side, the renewable energy directive (RED III) requires grid operators to make the renewable share and greenhouse gas content of electricity available at intervals of at most an hour, readable by charge points. The electricity directive asks member states to ease the connection of charge points with non-discriminatory cooperation from distribution operators.
Architecture consequence: keep one trusted record of each charger's state and history, and publish the public feed from it. The same history serves maintenance, billing and, when you plan a new site, a decision based on real utilisation data rather than a generic model.
Prepare flexibility without building it early
The AFIR recitals present smart charging as a way to integrate charging into the power system, and bidirectional charging as a further step. RED III requires national frameworks to let electric vehicles take part in flexibility and balancing markets, including through aggregation. Vehicle-to-grid offers in Europe are early, with limited deployment. Prepare the building blocks, OCPP 2.1 for V2X and ISO 15118-20 on the vehicle side, but build the service when you have a market and a contract for it.
Avoid lock-in by modularity
Separate the components that change at different speeds: the OCPP session handling, the roaming interface, the public data feed, the grid interface and the user applications. Check that you can export your data and move chargers to another CSMS without changing hardware.
This week
GFO Omni is a CSMS for OCPP 1.6, 2.0.1 and 2.1 that supervises charge points.