Questions to Ask an EV Charging Software Vendor Before You Sign

Quick Answer 

Before signing with an EV charging software vendor, operators should ask specific questions across six areas: architecture and integration capability, hardware compatibility, uptime and reliability, data ownership and portability, migration support, and pricing model. Vague answers to specific questions are informative in themselves. A vendor that cannot tell you precisely how a critical incident is handled, how your data is exported on contract termination, or who you will speak to during migration is telling you something important about how the relationship will work once the contract is signed. 

By the time you reach the final stages of a vendor evaluation, you have probably seen product demonstrations, compared feature lists, and sat through several sales conversations. Most of that process is designed to show you what a platform can do under ideal conditions. The questions in this article are designed to surface what the platform and the vendor are actually like when conditions are less than ideal. 

Signing a CPMS contract is a multi-year commitment with real switching costs attached. The due diligence you do before signing directly shapes how the migration goes, how the platform performs under pressure, and how much leverage you have if things go wrong. For context on the full migration process, our guide on migrating your EV charging operations covers each stage in detail. 

Questions about architecture and integration 

Which systems does your platform integrate with out of the box, and how are those integrations maintained? 

A vendor with a broad integration library should be able to give you a specific answer. Ask for a list and confirm that the systems your business depends on are included. Also ask who maintains those integrations when a third-party system updates its API. Integrations that break and stay broken are a common source of operational overhead. 

How is your API documented, and can we access that documentation before signing? 

An API-first platform with well-maintained documentation reflects a vendor that has built for integration from the ground up. Ask to see the documentation. If it is incomplete, out of date, or unavailable to prospective customers, that is worth noting. 

If we need a custom integration that is not in your library, how is that handled? 

Find out whether the vendor builds custom integrations directly or whether you are referred to a third-party systems integrator. A vendor that owns the integration work has a clearer incentive to see it completed correctly. One that refers you elsewhere has less visibility and less accountability over the outcome. 

Questions about hardware compatibility 

Which OCPP versions does your platform support? 

OCPP 1.6 is the minimum to expect. OCPP 2.0.1 support is increasingly standard and worth confirming if your network will require its smart charging or device management capabilities. Ask specifically, rather than accepting a general claim of OCPP compliance. 

Can we connect chargers from any manufacturer, or are there hardware partners we are expected to use? 

A genuinely hardware-agnostic platform will give you a straightforward answer here. If the response involves preferred hardware partners, volume incentives, or caveats about certain manufacturers, understand exactly what the constraints are before you commit. 

Have you tested against the specific charger models we are currently running? 

Ask for a tested hardware list and confirm your models are on it. If they are not, ask how the vendor handles onboarding chargers outside their tested set and whether there is any risk of reduced functionality. 

Questions about uptime and reliability 

What is your platform uptime, and how is that figure calculated? 

Ask for a specific number and ask how it is measured. Uptime figures that exclude planned maintenance windows, exclude certain regions, or are calculated on a different basis than you expect can look better than they are. 99.999% is the benchmark worth holding in mind. 

How are incidents communicated to customers, and what does a typical incident report look like? 

Ask to see an example. A vendor with a mature incident communication process will have one readily available. The format and detail of that report tells you how seriously the vendor takes transparency during outages. 

What is your process when a critical incident occurs outside business hours? 

Charging networks run around the clock. Find out whether the vendor's incident response does too, and who is responsible for that response at 2am on a Sunday. 

Questions about data ownership and portability 

How is data ownership defined in your standard contract? 

Your session data, charge point configurations, driver records, and billing history belong to your business. Confirm that the contract states this explicitly and that there are no clauses that limit your ability to access or use your own data. 

How do we export our data, in what format, and is there a cost associated with that export? 

Ask this question before you are in a position where you need the answer urgently. Data exports from some legacy platforms are technically cumbersome or commercially restricted. A vendor that makes data portability easy has no reason to obscure the process. 

What happens to our data when the contract ends? 

Find out how long the vendor retains your data after termination, in what format it is made available, and whether there is a window during which you can request a full export. These terms are negotiable at the point of signing and difficult to renegotiate after. 

Questions about migration support 

What does your migration support include, and is it part of the standard agreement? 

Some vendors treat migration as a professional services engagement with a separate cost. Others include structured onboarding and migration support as standard. Understand exactly what is included before you sign and what falls outside the scope of the standard agreement. 

Can you describe a migration that presented unexpected challenges, and how you handled it? 

A vendor with real migration experience will have an honest answer to this question. One that has not managed many migrations, or that managed them poorly, will give you a more general response. The specificity of the answer is itself informative. 

Who will we have direct access to during the migration period? 

Find out whether you will be working with engineers who built the platform or with a project manager reading from a playbook. Direct access to technical staff during migration significantly reduces the time it takes to resolve issues as they arise. 

Questions about pricing model and commercial terms 

Is your pricing tied to successful charging sessions, or is it a flat fee per charger? 

The answer tells you whether the vendor's commercial interests are aligned with your network's performance. A per-charger flat fee means the vendor gets paid regardless of whether sessions succeed. A model tied to session volume or success rate creates a shared incentive to keep the network performing. 

What are the notice period and exit terms in your standard contract? 

Notice periods of three to six months are common in CPMS contracts. Some contracts include minimum term commitments or early termination fees. Understand these terms before signing and negotiate where you can. The exit terms you agree to now will determine your options later. 

How does pricing scale as our network grows? 

Ask for a clear picture of how the cost structure changes at two times, five times, and ten times your current network size. A pricing model that looks reasonable at your current scale can become disproportionate as you grow, particularly if it is structured around a flat per-charger fee. 

One question that cuts across all of the above 

Can we speak to a customer who has migrated to your platform from a competitor? 

A vendor confident in its migration track record will facilitate this without hesitation. The conversation you have with a reference customer who has been through the process will tell you more than any number of sales conversations can. 

Conclusion 

The vendors that hold up well under this kind of questioning are the ones worth building your network on. Vague answers, deflected questions, or terms that require careful reading to understand are all signals worth taking seriously before you sign, rather than after. 

eMabler is a charging management platform for EV charging operators across Europe. 

If you are in late-stage vendor evaluation and want to put these questions to eMabler directly, we are happy to talk.