ChargeLab wins California certification for EV charging software

ChargeLab said July 2 that its charging station management system received California’s CTEP approval for legal-for-trade EV charging when paired with selected Zerova and Espen chargers. The certification could make compliant billing and deployment easier for California site hosts and hardware partners.

Why it matters: - ChargeLab's certification validates the accuracy and transparency of EV charging transactions for California's legal-for-trade requirements. - The approval can help site hosts, drivers and regulators trust billing for public charging sites subject to California weights and measures oversight. - The software-only certification may make CTEP compliance faster and easier to scale across hardware partners.

What happened: - ChargeLab said July 2 that its Charging Station Management System received California Type Evaluation Program Certificate of Approval 6062-26 from the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Division of Measurement Standards. - The certification was achieved in partnership with Zerova and Espen. - The certificate applies when ChargeLab's CSMS is paired with select Zerova and Espen Technology charger models. - ChargeLab first earned CTEP certification in 2023 alongside ABB E-mobility and Eaton.

The details: - The certified setup covers the full charging chain, from the charger on the wall to the software handling sessions, billing and cloud network connectivity. - CTEP began as a certification program for fuel dispensers and has since expanded to EV charging. - The approval confirms metered energy transactions processed through the ChargeLab platform meet California legal-for-trade rules. - ChargeLab's certification is one of the first software-only CSMS certifications in the EV industry. - The approach shifts some certification work away from hardware manufacturers. - Certified hardware can be added to ChargeLab's certificate through an amendment instead of each charger brand listing every CSMS partner on its own certificate. - ChargeLab said operators deploying these hardware configurations can rely on an end-to-end certified charging solution. - Partners seeking CTEP-compliant deployments can work with ChargeLab to add certified hardware to the certificate.

Between the lines: - The certification gives ChargeLab a broader role in compliance than a typical software vendor, since the approval extends across hardware and software combinations. - For hardware partners, the amendment-based model could reduce administrative friction as they expand in California. - The certification also signals that EV charging compliance is moving closer to a software-defined model, not just a hardware inspection process.

What's next: - ChargeLab said partners can add their certified hardware to the certificate for future CTEP-compliant deployments. - The company is positioning the approval as a step toward wider adoption of compliant charging systems in California. - Zerova and Espen said they expect to expand CTEP-compliant deployments together.

The bottom line: - ChargeLab now has California approval for a software-led EV charging compliance model, and that could make legal-for-trade deployments easier to roll out across partner hardware.

More information: Espen Technology, Zerova Technologies, ChargeLab, ChargeLab on LinkedIn, ChargeLab on Facebook