OCPP Virtual Charge Point

Simple, configurable, terminal-based OCPP Charging Station simulator written in Node.js with Schema validation.

Watch our video introduction

Prerequisites

• Node.js 12+

Run:

npm install

Running VCP

Configure env variables:

WS_URL - websocket endpoint
CP_ID - ID of this VCP
PASSWORD - if used for OCPP Authentication, otherwise can be left blank

Optional:

TOKEN - token this station authorizes with, substituted into admin commands (see below)
DISABLE_METER_VALUES - set to "true" to stop sending periodic MeterValues for ongoing transactions
CONNECTORLESS_FLOW_CONNECTOR_ID - connector to use when a RemoteStartTransaction arrives without a connectorId

By default a RemoteStartTransaction without a connectorId is rejected. Setting CONNECTORLESS_FLOW_CONNECTOR_ID makes the VCP accept it on that fixed connector instead.

Run OCPP 1.6:

npm start index_16.ts

Run OCPP 2.0.1:

npm start index_201.ts

When testing different configurations, you can create multiple .env files and pass the env file or the env file suffix as an argument, for example:

# uses .env
npm start .env index_16.ts
# uses .env if exists
npm start index_16.ts
# uses .env.production
npm start .env.production index_16.ts
# uses .env.production
npm start production index_16.ts

Auto-restart

Normally, the VCP will exit after receiving the Reset message. If you want to let the VCP re-establish the WS connection after receiving the Reset message, you can use the npm start:auto-restart command.

Example:

WS_URL=ws://localhost:3000 CP_ID=vcp_16_test npm run start:auto-restart index_16.ts

# ...
2026-03-06 09:55:51 info: Receive message ⬅️  [2,"248a82ba-58e3-4a3d-ae8f-74470add510f","Reset",{"type":"Hard"}]
2026-03-06 09:55:51 info: Responding with ➡️  [3,"248a82ba-58e3-4a3d-ae8f-74470add510f",{"status":"Accepted"}]
2026-03-06 09:55:51 info: Waiting for 3 seconds to close VCP...
2026-03-06 09:55:54 info: Closing VCP
2026-03-06 09:55:54 info: Auto-restart enabled. Closing old VCP...
2026-03-06 09:55:54 info: Waiting for 3 seconds...
2026-03-06 09:55:57 info: Starting new VCP
2026-03-06 09:55:57 info: Connecting... | {
  endpoint: 'ws://localhost:3000',
  chargePointId: 'vcp_16_test',
  ocppVersion: 'OCPP_1.6',
  basicAuthPassword: '123',
  adminPort: 9999
}
# ...

Example

> WS_URL=ws://localhost:3000 CP_ID=vcp_16_test npm start index_16.ts

2023-03-27 13:09:17 info: Connecting... | {
  endpoint: 'ws://localhost:3000',
  chargePointId: 'vcp_16_test',
  ocppVersion: 'OCPP_1.6',
  basicAuthPassword: 'password',
  adminWsPort: 9999
}
2023-03-27 13:09:17 info: Sending message ➡️  [2,"5fe44756-05e1-4065-9c91-11b456b55913","BootNotification",{"chargePointVendor":"Solidstudio","chargePointModel":"test","chargePointSerialNumber":"S001","firmwareVersion":"1.0.0"}]
2023-03-27 13:09:17 info: Sending message ➡️  [2,"aad8d05d-3a6b-4c51-a9fc-7275d4a6cbc3","StatusNotification",{"connectorId":1,"errorCode":"NoError","status":"Available"}]
2023-03-27 13:09:17 info: Receive message ⬅️  [3,"5fe44756-05e1-4065-9c91-11b456b55913",{"currentTime":"2023-03-27T11:09:17.883Z","interval":30,"status":"Accepted"}]
2023-03-27 13:09:17 info: Receive message ⬅️  [2,"658c8f5b-9f86-487f-91f8-1d656453978a","ChangeConfiguration",{"key":"MeterValueSampleInterval","value":"60"}]
2023-03-27 13:09:17 info: Responding with ➡️  [3,"658c8f5b-9f86-487f-91f8-1d656453978a",{"status":"Accepted"}]
2023-03-27 13:09:17 info: Receive message ⬅️  [2,"34fc4673-deff-48d3-bb8e-d94d75fa619a","GetConfiguration",{"key":["SupportedFeatureProfiles"]}]
2023-03-27 13:09:17 info: Responding with ➡️  [3,"34fc4673-deff-48d3-bb8e-d94d75fa619a",{"configurationKey":[{"key":"SupportedFeatureProfiles","readonly":true,"value":"Core,FirmwareManagement,LocalAuthListManagement,Reservation,SmartCharging,RemoteTrigger"},{"key":"ChargeProfileMaxStackLevel","readonly":true,"value":"99"},{"key":"HeartbeatInterval","readonly":false,"value":"300"},{"key":"GetConfigurationMaxKeys","readonly":true,"value":"99"}]}]
2023-03-27 13:09:17 info: Receive message ⬅️  [3,"aad8d05d-3a6b-4c51-a9fc-7275d4a6cbc3",{}]
2023-03-27 13:09:18 info: Receive message ⬅️  [2,"d7610ad2-63d0-470f-9bd9-6e47d5483429","SetChargingProfile",{"connectorId":0,"csChargingProfiles":{"chargingProfileId":30,"stackLevel":0,"chargingProfilePurpose":"ChargePointMaxProfile","chargingProfileKind":"Absolute","chargingSchedule":{"chargingRateUnit":"A","chargingSchedulePeriod":[{"startPeriod":0,"limit":10.0}]}}}]
2023-03-27 13:09:18 info: Responding with ➡️  [3,"d7610ad2-63d0-470f-9bd9-6e47d5483429",{"status":"Accepted"}]
2023-03-27 13:10:17 info: Sending message ➡️  [2,"79a41b2e-2c4a-4a65-9d7e-417967a8f95f","Heartbeat",{}]
2023-03-27 13:10:17 info: Receive message ⬅️  [3,"79a41b2e-2c4a-4a65-9d7e-417967a8f95f",{"currentTime":"2023-03-27T11:10:17.955Z"}]

Executing Admin Commands

Some messages are automatically sent by the VCP, for example, BootNotification or StartTransaction and StopTransaction. However, for Operations initiated by Charge Point (compare e.g. with OCPP 1.6, Chapter 4) one can send the messages using admin functionality. VCP exposes a separate Websocket endpoint that will "proxy" all messages to Central System Websocket. For example usage, see admin/ folder.

npx tsx admin/v16/Authorize/authorize.ts

Placeholders in admin commands

The commands in admin/ are shared across charge points, so they cannot hardcode a station's token or know the id of a transaction that is already running. Instead they send placeholders, which the VCP substitutes from its own state just before the message goes out. Substitution happens in the VCP process — the admin command only proxies the payload to it — so TOKEN belongs in the env file the VCP was started with, not on the admin command:

Placeholder	Substituted with
token __TOKEN__	the TOKEN env var
transactionId of 0 (or "0" in 2.0.1/2.1)	the id of the ongoing transaction

Both are best-effort and never guess:

• A token other than __TOKEN__ is sent as-is, so a command that spells out a real token keeps working. If TOKEN is not set, the placeholder is sent unchanged — the Central System then rejects a recognisable value instead of the command silently authorizing as someone else.
• A transactionId is only resolved when there is exactly one ongoing transaction. With none, or more than one, the 0 is sent unchanged and the Central System decides how to respond. Set TRANSACTION_ID to target a specific transaction.

# .env.platform-dev.my-station
WS_URL=ws://localhost:3000
CP_ID=my-station
TOKEN=AABBCCDD

# the station is started with that env file...
npm start platform-dev.my-station index_16.ts

# ...then the same commands work against any station: the transaction starts
# with that station's TOKEN and stops without its id having to be looked up
npx tsx admin/v16/Transaction/startTransaction.ts
npx tsx admin/v16/Transaction/stopTransaction.ts

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Contributing

Bug Reports & Feature Requests

Please use the issue tracker to report any bugs or file feature requests.

Developing

We encourage contributions through pull requests and follow the standard "fork-and-pull" git workflow. Feel free to create a fork of the repository, make your changes, and submit a pull request for review. We appreciate your contributions!

1. Fork the repository on GitHub.
2. Clone the forked repository to your local machine.
3. Create a new branch for your changes.
4. Make your changes to the code and commit them to your local branch.
5. Push the changes to your forked repository on GitHub.
6. Create a new pull request on the original repository.
7. Wait for feedback and make any necessary changes.
8. Once your pull request has been reviewed and accepted, it will be merged into the original repository.

When creating your pull request, please include a clear description of the changes you have made, and any relevant context or reasoning behind those changes.