Why most EV charging RFPs underperform
Many RFPs ask vendors to confirm a long list of features. That produces good-looking answers and weak buying decisions.
What often gets missed:
- How hard migration will be
- Whether data stays portable
- How the system behaves during incidents
- What it costs to change architecture later
A better RFP focuses on the constraints that matter after the contract is signed.
Section 1: Fleet and protocol fit
Ask vendors to describe:
- Supported charger brands and models
- OCPP versions supported in production
- Mixed-fleet handling
- Security profile support
- Firmware management workflows
- Exceptions and known compatibility gaps
Do not accept "OCPP compliant" as a sufficient answer. Ask what breaks most often in the field.
Section 2: Migration and coexistence
This section should be mandatory.
Include questions like:
- Can we migrate chargers in waves?
- Can your platform run alongside our current backend?
- How do you support rollback?
- What dependencies exist on professional services during migration?
- How long do mixed-fleet or mixed-backend states remain supported?
If you need more context for technical migration planning, pair this checklist with the OCPP 1.6 to 2.0.1 migration guide.
Section 3: Roaming and interoperability
Even if roaming is not phase one, your contract horizon may outlast your initial scope.
Ask:
- Do you support OCPI today?
- Which versions are supported?
- Can you connect to roaming hubs and bilateral partners?
- How are tariffs, tokens, sessions, and CDRs handled?
- What operational tooling exists for partner onboarding and monitoring?
If your team is still mapping roles and architecture, start with the complete OCPI roaming guide.
Section 4: Data ownership and export
This section protects future optionality.
Request detail on:
- API coverage
- Webhooks or event streaming
- Historical data export
- Session and CDR access
- Raw protocol event access
- Retention limits
- Contract language around data ownership
Include a direct question:
If we leave your platform, how do we retrieve historical data and in what format?
Section 5: Security and compliance operations
Security questions should cover:
- Identity and access control
- Audit logs
- Credential rotation
- TLS and certificate support
- Environment isolation
- Incident response process
Operational questions should cover:
- Monitoring and alerting
- Bulk configuration changes
- Change history
- Support SLAs
- Maintenance windows
- Recovery playbooks
Section 6: Commercial and contract terms
This is where lock-in often hides.
Ask vendors to explain:
- Pricing drivers at 100, 1,000, and 10,000 chargers
- Fees for integrations, exports, or partner onboarding
- Contract length and termination terms
- Price changes at renewal
- Cost of professional services
- Transition support if you migrate away
Make vendors answer in writing. Vague commercial language becomes expensive later.
Suggested scorecard
| Area | Weight | |------|--------| | Fleet and protocol fit | 20% | | Migration and coexistence | 20% | | Roaming and interoperability | 15% | | Data ownership and exports | 15% | | Security and operations | 15% | | Commercial model and terms | 15% |
Questions worth copying into your RFP
Use these directly if you want a sharper shortlist:
- Describe how your platform supports staged migration from a legacy CPMS or CSMS.
- Explain how we can export sessions, CDRs, meter values, and charger status history.
- List any workflows that require vendor-managed services or custom development.
- Describe support for OCPP 1.6 and OCPP 2.0.1 in mixed fleets.
- Explain current support for OCPI, roaming hubs, and bilateral partner integrations.
- Describe audit logging, access control, and credential rotation features.
- Explain rollback and recovery procedures during rollout failures.
- Describe all commercial dependencies that could limit switching or multi-vendor operations.
How to use this checklist
The best sequence is:
- Use this post to draft the procurement structure.
- Use the OCPP platform buyer guide to sharpen evaluation criteria.
- Use pricing and contact when you are ready to move from shortlist to implementation planning.
That order keeps architecture, procurement, and rollout aligned.
