Understand how EV charging infrastructure is organised — from the site down to the individual plug.
The four levels
Location → Charging station → EVSE → Connector
Location
A location is a physical site where one or more charging stations are installed — a car park, a supermarket forecourt, a motorway service area. In the Monta Charge app, each location appears as a pin on the map. Selecting a pin shows the site's address, opening hours, and the EVSEs available there.
Charging station
A charging station is the physical unit at a location — a wall box, a post, or a pedestal. One location can have many charging stations. A dual-socket pedestal is one charging station with two EVSEs.
EVSE
An EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) is a single outlet that delivers electricity to one vehicle at a time. This is what you select and start a session on in Monta. If a charging station has two outlets, that is two EVSEs — each one can serve a different driver at the same time.
ℹ️ EVSE is the industry-standard term and the terminology Monta is shifting to, especially in B2B contexts. You may still see "charge point" in the Monta Charge app — charge point and EVSE refer to the same concept.
Connector
A connector is the physical plug on an EVSE. Each EVSE can have one or more connector types — for example, Type 2 for AC charging or CCS for DC fast charging. The connector must match your car's charging port. On an EVSE with two connectors, only one can be used at a time.
Quick reference
- Location — the address or site that appears as a map pin
- Charging station — the physical unit (wall box or pedestal) at a location
- EVSE — a single outlet; one session and one vehicle at a time
- Connector — the plug type (Type 2, CCS, CHAdeMO)
An example
A motorway service area has two pedestals and one wall box:
- 1 location (the service area)
- 3 charging stations (two pedestals + one wall box)
- 5 EVSEs (2 outlets per pedestal + 1 on the wall box)
- Each EVSE has 1 or more connectors depending on plug type support
- When you search the map, you are searching for locations.
- When you filter by plug type (Type 2, CCS), you are filtering EVSEs by their connectors.
- Availability counts (for example '2 available') refer to individual EVSEs, not charging stations.
- When you start a session, you are starting a session on a specific EVSE.
Based on the OCPI standard
This four-level structure follows OCPI 2.2+ (Open Charge Point Interface), the open industry standard for sharing charging data between networks. Monta uses this standard, which is why the same terms appear across different charging apps and networks.
Why it matters
In the Monta Charge app, charging stations are not shown as a separate named level. The app lists EVSEs directly under a location, using the legacy term 'charge point'. The charging station grouping is visible in Monta Hub.
Related
- How do I use public charge points?
- Which connector type does my car need?
- Monta EV Charging Glossary