Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1544707
54 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2026 design constraint rather than a post-deployment metric. 4 The 2025 ChargerHelp Annual Reliability Report 5 reinforces a critical industry inflection point that, while reported uptime continues to improve, uptime alone no longer reflects the real-world charging experience. A dataset of more than 100 million OCPP (Open Charge Point Protocol) messages and nearly 300,000 charging sessions shows that although many networks approach NEVI's 97% uptime target, successful charge initia- tion lags far behind. Most notably, the report identi- fies a ≥25 percentage point gap between reported charger availability and charge-start success, with only 71% of charging attempts succeeding on the first try. Even more concerning, 35% of failed charge attempts occurred on chargers reporting an "available" status, revealing a blind spot in tradi- tional uptime metrics. The 2024 ChargerHelp Annual Reliability Report 6 analyzed charging-related data across public Level 2 and DC fast charging stations and highlighted a persistent gap between network-reported up- time and "true uptime" experienced by drivers. It showed that downtime was rarely driven by rare catastrophic events, but rather component deg- radation, connector and cable damage, internal power electronics faults, and communications errors together accounted for more than two-thirds of observed failures. The report also identified a critical Pareto effect: A small subset of "problem stations" accounted for a disproportionate share of downtime, with some DCFC sites experiencing multiple extended outages lasting weeks or more. Software inaccuracies often masked these fail- ures, leading to inflated reported uptime and frus- trated drivers attempting to use "available" char- gers that could not deliver power. Field data also showed that DCFC stations experienced higher downtime rates than Level 2 chargers. Power mod- ule degradation, cooling system faults, connector overheating, and control electronics failures were recurring contributors. Older EV charging stations experience higher downtime, with a notable in- crease in failure rates around the four-year mark. Compounding the environmental thermal chal- lenges was the fact that Level 3 chargers typically operated at high voltages within the 400–800V range, aligning with the battery architectures of Figure 3: Induction wireless charger. (Source: Creative Commons, Neo, 2011)