Why does a charger sometimes not start?

A session can stop at five points: the vehicle handshake, the charger hardware, the mobile connection, the backend or the authorisation. Many causes can be resolved remotely.

Explained in

EV charging fundamentals · Stop 06Why does a charging session sometimes not start?Five places where a session can stop: vehicle, charger, connectivity, backend and payment. How operators diagnose remotely, and what uptime measures.

A control room sees more than the driver, and checks in a fixed order:

From “How an operator investigates”, stop 06
  1. What does uptime mean?Uptime measures whether a charge point was technically able to charge. Session success measures whether individual sessions started and finished. Operators track both.
  2. Why does charging involve so many companies?Three things spread the work: the grid connection, the location where people park, and contracts that work across many networks. One company can hold several roles, but the roles stay separate.
  3. How many public charge points are there in Europe?More than 1.1 million in the EU alone: the European Alternative Fuels Observatory counted 1,159,838 public recharging points in August 2026. The map on this site covers part of the network: 839,000 public charge points at 227,000 sites across Europe, from national registries and OpenChargeMap.
  4. Who is the CPO and who is the eMSP?The CPO operates the charger and keeps it available. The eMSP issues the card or app, sets the driver's price and sends the invoice. They are often two different companies.