CPO, MSP, CSMS, OCPP, OCPI: the EV charging glossary, in plain language

Every conversation about EV charging eventually runs into the same acronyms. They describe simple things: who owns the charger, who sells access to it, which software runs it, and what language the machines use to talk to each other.

CPO: Charge Point Operator

The CPO operates the charge point. It supervises the hardware, sets tariffs, handles faults and collects revenue from sessions.

The common confusion is worth clearing up: the CPO is not necessarily the owner. A hotel can buy its chargers and hand operation to a third-party CPO. Equally, a CPO can install and own chargers on someone else’s car park under a revenue share.

In Morocco, the public networks visible today are run by a handful of CPOs, often attached to fuel forecourts.

MSP: Mobility Service Provider

The MSP, sometimes written eMSP, is the driver-facing side: the app, the RFID card, the badge, and a single invoice at the end of the month.

The distinction from the CPO fits in one sentence: the CPO owns the charger, the MSP owns the relationship with the driver.

That is why a driver can charge on hardware belonging to ten different operators without holding ten accounts. Their MSP settles with each CPO and bills them once.

CSMS: Charging Station Management System

The CSMS is the software that runs the chargers. It is the layer nobody sees and nothing works without: connector status, tariff logic, starting and stopping sessions, billing, and fault reporting.

You will also see CPMS (Charge Point Management System). In everyday use the two mean the same thing.

One point deserves emphasis, because it is the most expensive mistake in a charging project: a charger without a CSMS is not a service, it is a socket. It bills badly or not at all, nobody knows when it fails, and it keeps showing as available on the maps.

OCPP: Open Charge Point Protocol

OCPP is the language between the charger and the CSMS. It is an open protocol, which has one very concrete consequence: an OCPP-compliant charger can change supervision software without being replaced.

Two versions matter today:

• OCPP 1.6, the most widespread across installed hardware;
• OCPP 2.0.1, which adds finer smart-charging control and stronger security.

Before buying any hardware, ask the supplier one question: is the charger genuinely OCPP-compliant, and in which version? A charger that only speaks a proprietary protocol locks you to its manufacturer for its entire service life.

The Chargma platform supports OCPP 1.6 and 2.0.1, across brands.

OCPI: Open Charge Point Interface

Where OCPP lets a charger talk to its software, OCPI lets networks talk to each other. It is the roaming protocol: a driver subscribed to operator A can charge on operator B’s hardware, with session data and billing exchanged automatically.

For a charge point owner the effect is simple: your chargers become visible and usable from other operators’ apps. You reach more drivers without spending anything extra on marketing.

At Chargma, OCPI roaming is an add-on at 299 MAD per month.

How the five pieces fit together

The picture is simpler than the acronyms suggest:

The driver uses their MSP’s app. That app starts a session on a charger run by a CPO. The charger talks to its CSMS over OCPP. If the MSP and the CPO are different companies, they settle with each other over OCPI.

One company can hold several roles at once. Chargma does: it provides the CSMS to charge point owners, operates as a CPO, and runs the driver app.

What this means for your project

If you are installing chargers, you are a candidate for the CPO role, whether or not you planned to be, and whether or not you are targeting the general public. The question stops being “which charger should I buy” and becomes “who supervises it, who bills for it, and what happens when it fails on a Sunday”.

That layer is exactly what we operate. Let’s talk.