Smart charging used to mean load balancing: share the power of one connection among the vehicles plugged in. That remains the base. What changes is the number of parties that can ask a charging network to adapt: energy suppliers, grid operators, aggregators and, in time, the vehicles themselves. This article describes the steps from site-level control to grid orchestration, what the texts say about each, and where deployment is still limited.
Step one: load balancing on a site
A site has a limited connection. The CSMS divides the available power among active sessions, statically with preset limits or dynamically from measured consumption. It avoids overloads and postpones grid reinforcement.
Its limit is that it only looks inward. It does not know whether the grid is stressed, whether renewable electricity is abundant, or whether the price is high. Many operators have this step in place, and it is the foundation for the others.
Step two: following price and grid signals
The second step adds outside information to the same control: a price curve, a renewable share, a limit from the network operator.
Regulation now supports this. Under AFIR (Regulation (EU) 2023/1804), public points built after 13 April 2024, or renovated after 14 October 2024, must be capable of smart recharging, defined as real-time adjustment of intensity from information received electronically. The renewable energy directive (RED III, Directive (EU) 2023/2413) requires network operators to publish the renewable share and greenhouse gas content of electricity by zone, at steps of one hour at most, readable by charge points. It also requires new or replaced private points of normal power to support smart recharging functions.
The requirement is a capability. Whether you use it to follow prices is your choice.
Step three: aggregation and flexibility markets
Here a network is treated as a flexible resource. Directive (EU) 2019/944 describes demand response as pivotal to enabling smart charging (recital 41). AFIR recital 30 says smart charging helps integrate vehicles into the electricity system through aggregation and demand response.
RED III goes further on the framework: national rules must allow small or mobile systems, including electric vehicles, to take part in markets for congestion management, flexibility and balancing, including through aggregation.
What this means for an operator: the technical side is only part of the work. Access to these markets goes through an aggregator or a supplier, with contracts, metering and settlement rules set nationally. Check what your country and your grid operator allow before building anything.
Step four: bidirectional charging
The last step sends energy back. The technical pieces are in place or arriving:
Deployment remains limited. Pilots and first commercial offers exist in Europe, but no official figure for installed vehicle-to-grid capacity is available. RED III does not make bidirectional charging mandatory: it requires that the framework allows participation.
What the industry expects
Eurelectric and EY estimated in March 2025 that smart and bidirectional charging could save between 450 and 2 900 euros per year to each EV owner, and about 4 billion euros per year to distribution network operators (Eurelectric). This is an industry estimate, not a figure from the European Commission. Treat it as an order of magnitude and not as a business case.
Where to stand this week
1. Place your sites on the four steps. Many will be at step one or two.
2. Check that every station can receive a power limit from the CSMS, and note its OCPP version. OCPP 1.6 and 2.0.1 are not compatible with each other.
3. For new purchases, require ISO 15118-20 support and, where bidirectional use is planned, the OCPP 2.1 blocks.
4. Ask your grid operator and your supplier which flexibility products exist in your market.
GFO Omni is a CSMS supporting OCPP 1.6, 2.0.1 and 2.1 that supervises charge points.