Open Charge Alliance holds its first OCPP Plugfest in Australia from 27 to 29 October, with OCPP 2.1 testing now live

The Open Charge Alliance, the Dutch body that publishes the Open Charge Point Protocol, held its first OCPP Plugfest and Conference Australia in Canberra from 27 to 29 October 2026. OCA's own write-up puts more than 130 conference delegates from industry and government on day one, and more than 20 test teams on the two testing days, some joining remotely. Teams brought implementations of OCPP 1.6, OCPP 2.0.1 and OCPP 2.1 and tested them against each other. OCA says demand for slots ran over, with some teams still testing after the venue had officially closed.

This matters more than a conference write-up usually would, because OCPP is the piece of software plumbing that decides whether a public charger in India actually works. It is the protocol between the charger and the central management system that authorises your session, meters it, bills it and reports a fault. When an app shows a charger as available and the gun refuses to start, the failure is very often in that layer rather than in the car.

Why OCPP 2.1 testing is the bigger news here

On 12 October 2026, OCA announced that its OCPP Compliance Testing Tool, OCTT Professional, now covers OCPP 2.1 alongside 1.6 and 2.0.1. OCPP 2.1 was released in 2025, so until this month makers could write to it but could not formally test against OCA's tool or prepare for certification. The version matters for India for three reasons OCA names: support for ISO 15118-20, bidirectional power transfer, and better smart charging. ISO 15118-20 is the layer behind Plug and Charge, where the car and charger authenticate each other and you do not touch an app at all. Bidirectional support is the groundwork for vehicle to grid and vehicle to load.

The protocol also now has formal standing. OCA said on 20 October 2024 that IEC had approved OCPP 2.0.1 edition 3 as international standard IEC 63584, which moves it from an industry convention to something a tender can cite like any other IEC document.

India recommends OCPP, it does not require it

The Ministry of Power's Guidelines and Standards for EV Charging Infrastructure, dated 17 September 2024, go only as far as saying open standards are recommended, and that public charge point operators "may adopt open communication protocols like UEI, OCPP, OCPI or open ADR". Section 13 similarly advises CPOs to adopt open protocols for data sharing. Advises, not mandates. That is a weaker instrument than a type approval rule such as AIS-156 for battery packs or a BIS standard such as the IS 17017 series for the charging interface.

The practical result is the thing Bengaluru EV owners complain about most. Three apps, three wallets, and no reliable way to know whether a charger is alive before you drive to it. Roaming between networks runs on OCPI, and uptime reporting runs on OCPP, and neither is enforced. Plugfests are how the rest of the world finds those bugs before customers do. OCA has now run them in Seoul on 25 and 26 August 2026 at COEX, in Europe in September, and now in Canberra. India, which is adding chargers faster than almost any market, has not hosted one.

Sources

• Looking back on the first OCPP Plugfest and Conference Australia
• New milestone: OCPP 2.1 testing is now available
• Open Charge Alliance news listing
• Looking back on the OCPP Plugfest and Conference Asia 2026
• OCPP achieves international standard status (IEC 63584)
• Govt issues revised EV charging guidelines 2024 for EV charging stations