With a brand-new configuration app, commissioning AC charging stations is set to become a breeze for electricians. Combined with the right AC charging controller, it’s a dream team for any electrician …
It’s pouring rain. The gentle breeze has turned into a gusty, cold, wet wind. The new charging park in front of the local shopping center is almost finished. All that’s left is to put it into operation. The first raindrops are falling onto the keyboard of the laptop needed for the task. My fingers are stiff, and my glasses are fogged up. I really need to hurry now… but unfortunately, I missed the last click.
A day in the life of an electrician. But even when the sun is shining and the job is “just” to set up a home charger at a customer’s home, the electrician has to navigate a wide range of complex commissioning options. Especially if he doesn’t deal with e-mobility and grid connections on a daily basis.
151,452 AC charging points (as of May 1, 2026, Germany)
Meanwhile, the market is growing rapidly: According to the Federal Network Agency, there were 151,452 AC charging points as of May 1, 2026 – only in Germany (!) – and the trend continues to rise sharply. This means plenty of work for installation companies, which are responsible for ensuring the proper and safe connection of these electric vehicles.
Moritz Jung holds the solution to all problems in his hand. Well, actually, the e-mobility expert is holding his smartphone. But he’s enhanced it with an app developed by Phoenix Contact – one that turns his mobile device into a real problem-solver.
We’re at All Electric Society Park in Blomberg. Part of the park is a dedicated charging park with a whole row of AC charging stations. All of them are equipped with Charx control modular AC control modules. And the engineer and product manager is now connecting to one of them – wirelessly, without cables or a laptop. “It took us a good year to develop our app,” he reveals. The team – comprising product managers, hardware and software developers, and test engineers – is responsible for further developing the control system, consistently rolling out the latest security patches and features, and also developing the app’s software.
Phoenix Contact e-mobility
“We’ve taken a very close look at what needs the boom in AC charging points is actually creating. For us, navigating the wide range of configuration options for our hardware and getting a charging station – or an entire charging park – up and running properly wouldn’t be rocket science. But for the technicians on site, it’s an enormous undertaking – time-consuming and prone to errors.”
The app’s key feature: It guides the user step by step through the setup process. This simplifies the process considerably. “The trick was in what we left out. Of course, anyone who wants to can dive into the depths of the system and use the charging station interface and a laptop to meticulously tailor the charging station to the specific location. But to start with, we focused on the simplest configuration parameters that are absolutely essential for commissioning. This simplification makes operation easier even for experts and significantly less prone to errors.”
As Moritz Jung explains in the interview, this type of commissioning provides a high degree of certainty, especially for installers at electrical contracting firms who do not deal with charging stations and home chargers on a daily basis.
“We developed the app in collaboration with partners from the trades, so we took a very close look at real-world practices. From naming the charging park to load management and authorization methods – the app on the smartphone connects to the controller either via the controller’s ad-hoc Wi-Fi or an existing network.
During installation, a built-in test checks the OCPP connection (LAN/Wi-Fi/4G) directly on-site and confirms the successful backend connection. If the configuration requires more in-depth adjustments, users can jump directly to the integrated web-based management interface without having to exit the app.”
As Jung emphasizes, the app provides easy access to complex topics handled by the Charx control modular AC charging station controller. Billing compliant with metrology laws, up-to-date cybersecurity, Plug and Charge, or vehicle-to-grid – the e-mobility market is diverse and evolving rapidly. And according to Jung, that’s exactly what the control system is designed for – without requiring a hardware upgrade every time a change is made.
“With our app combined with our control system, we enable any electrically skilled person who has connected the home charger or charging station to also put the charging unit into operation. You don’t even need a manual.” Even the typical lousy weather in northern Germany doesn’t seem so bad anymore…
