7 myths about EV charging platform migrations and what to do instead

At a glance

• A charge point management system (CPMS) migration – also called an EV charging management system or charger management system migration – is the transfer of chargers, accounts, charge cards, tariffs and connected services from one EV charging platform to another.
• A CPMS migration does not mean replacing every SIM card, charge card or charger.
• Preserving working connectivity, customer identities, and live charging sessions can reduce cost and disruption.
• Billing, roaming, hardware differences and cutover timing need as much attention as charger uptime.
• A phased migration gives you more control without slowing down the transition.

Nobody migrates their charging assets because they want more work. By definition, CPMS migrations are complex: they involve legacy data, live infrastructure, roaming partners, billing systems, customer relationships, and teams that still need to keep the operation running.

When a migration is treated as a replacement project, the first instinct is often to change everything at once. New SIM cards, new charge cards. Recreate customer structures and reconfigure every charger. But that is rarely the best approach.

After migrating more than 250,000 EV charging assets, we have learnt that the most successful migrations focus on preserving what works, from connectivity to driver charge cards. In the end, the best migration is invisible to the people who rely on the network and does not overwhelm internal teams.

Here are seven CPMS migration myths and what to do instead in order to make a successful migration happen.

1. You may not need to touch a single SIM card

The assumption

An EV platform migration means replacing the SIM card in every charger. For a network of 100,000 stations, that becomes a major field operation – not to mention the incurring costs for new SIM cards.

What you can do instead

Separate the connectivity from the platform relationship. When we migrated over 100,000 stations for one project, the transition was handled largely remotely through a telco contract swap. The original SIMs remained in the chargers, and only 0.017% of the chargers required an on-site visit. The goal is not to avoid site visits at any cost, but to reserve on-site work for chargers where a SIM, configuration, QR code, or hardware issue actually requires it.

Bottomline:

Keeping the original SIMs can turn a heavy migration into a mostly remote project. You avoid the cost of replacement cards, reduce logistics hassle and scheduling requirements, and limit the amount of chargers offline during the transition. Changing the telco contract may be enough; changing every SIM may be unnecessary.

2. Your drivers might not need new charge cards

The assumption

You might think that charging accounts to a new EV platform means issuing new cards to every driver. Thousands of drivers would mean producing, shipping, and activating thousands of cards. Needless to say, that can be a hassle for both your teams and the end users.

What you can do instead

Keep the existing cards working by coordinating the handover of roaming user IDs or tokens with the roaming partners. In one migration we handled, 30,000 charging accounts and cards moved to a new environment without requiring new cards. The existing cards continued working through coordinated roaming network handoffs.

For this to work smoothly, roaming partners need to be aligned on the timing, identifiers, and activation of the new setup. You also need to resolve duplicate accounts where drivers already exist in both environments, so the same card cannot create double-billing or conflicting customer records.

Bottomline:

Your drivers do not need to learn a new process or replace a card that already works. You also avoid the cost and logistics of mass reissuance. In the EV Company case above, more than €150,000 were avoided card renewals. If the card and the driver relationship still work, move the identity behind them instead of replacing the card in their hands.

3. You may need fewer site visits than you expect

The assumption

You might think that migrating a large charging network means sending technicians to every location. They may need to replace SIM cards, update configurations, apply new QR codes, and check that each charger works.

What you can do instead

Start with a remote migration plan and identify the chargers that genuinely require physical intervention. Some chargers can be migrated remotely, while others may need a targeted SIM swap or configuration update. When site visits are indeed necessary, train the field team on the relevant charger models and migration procedures.  One visit can then cross many to-dos from the list, from configuration transfer and QR-code updates to quality assessment and electricity measurements.

Not every CPO has a field team in place; installation is often outsourced or otherwise occupied. In those cases, Last Mile Solutions can take this on, including technician training, route planning, and on-site QA

Bottomline:

Treating site visits as the exception can reduce travel and effort without treating on-site quality checks as optional. It also makes the migration easier to scale; remote work handles the standard cases, while trained technicians focus on the exceptions. The goal, in short, is to make every visit necessary and useful.

4. Your chargers do not stop being used because they are being migrated

The assumption

You might think migration work requires that chargers are not in use for a while. For public charging networks, that can mean reduced availability and can be difficult to coordinate across several locations.

What you can do instead

Charging stations can actually be migrated while they’re in use. Plan for active charging sessions from the start. Give field teams clear procedures and communication materials for handling sessions already in progress and make sure they can complete the required work without unnecessarily interrupting drivers.

How does this look in practice? In one case, we migrated 3,500 charging stations in three weeks without disrupting users – even while they were charging. We achieved this by taking access over the old CPMS, stopping the charge for a moment, then restarting the session from our backend. The driver received a pre-written notification that their session has been split in two. Just as importantly, the mechanic did not have to come back. They continued their route while the migration completed remotely.

Bottomline:

You do not have to choose between migration and charging availability. Treating live sessions as a normal part of the migration protects the driver experience and keeps the network operational while it changes underneath.

5. Your billing system needs attention too, not just the chargers

The assumption

It’s not uncommon to think a migration is successful once the charger appears online on the new platform. Connectivity is only the first check, though. A charger can be online while sessions fail to generate CDRs, tariffs calculate incorrectly, or completed charging sessions remain unbilled.

What you can do instead

Check the whole flow from charging session to revenue. Make sure that sessions start and end correctly, CDRs are generated, tariffs calculate as expected, and invoices reflect the energy delivered. Then monitor the first billing cycles closely and reconcile the results with the source data.

The same applies to the physical charger. Where on-site work is required, include a quality assessment and electricity measurement, not just a connectivity test. A charger needs to deliver energy accurately as well as communicate with the back office.

Bottomline:

A migration can maintain uptime and still leak revenue. Post-migration billing checks help you identify missing sessions, incorrect tariffs, and other settlement issues before they become a larger problem for your pocket. The migration is complete when the session is delivered, recorded, priced, invoiced and settled correctly.

6. Protect the billing cycle as you protect the uptime

The assumption

While the previous section was about billing correctness, this one is about when you flip the switch. The safest cutover is often assumed to be the quietest technical window – less traffic, lower risk. But a migration can protect uptime and still create billing confusion if the cutover cuts across an active billing period or leaves roaming systems out of sync.

What you can do instead

Plan the cutover around both operations and finance. Where possible, cut over at the beginning of the month. Since invoices run monthly, this gives a clean boundary and avoids two bills landing in the same period. Use a low-traffic technical window inside that boundary and define rules for accounts that exist in both environments. Coordinate the activation of roaming access and make sure the first sessions and CDRs are checked in the new setup.

Be explicit about what carries over one-to-one and what does not. Outstanding balances, loyalty or bonus points, and specific discount agreements often need to be treated case by case. Map this out early, during the data-analysis phase, so the CPO can anticipate the exceptions rather than discover them after go-live.

Equally important, the CPO needs to communicate these changes to end customers clearly and on time. We actively support this, including through an email checker that verifies whether invoices and communications actually reach the customer.

Bottomline:

A well-timed cutover combined with early transparency about what carries over reduces the risk of double billing, missing sessions, and difficult invoice reconciliation. Your migration should protect the billing cycle and the customer relationship, as carefully as it protects uptime.

7. You don’t have to migrate your entire network in one go

The assumption

You might think a large migration means switching every charger, account, and card at the same time. A single cutover may seem faster, but it also gives a single issue a very large impact radius.

What you can do instead

Use a representative pilot and migrate the rest in controlled waves. Test different charger models, user types, pricing structures, and roaming scenarios before the full rollout. Then migrate validated batches, monitor each one, and use what you learn to improve the next.

For large projects, automated execution can move thousands of assets per week while hyper-care monitoring remains in place. Prove the process on a representative group before scaling it.

Bottomline:

A pilot and phased rollout give you a controlled way to find issues before they affect the entire network. They limit the impact of unexpected hardware, data, or billing problems and give your teams time to resolve them before the next batch.

Worried about your CPMS migration?

Migration worries are understandable, but they do not have to become your team’s next operational overwhelm. Last Mile Solutions has supported the migration of more than 250,000 EV charging assets, from stations and accounts to charge cards, while protecting uptime, billing and driver experience. If you are planning a CPMS migration and want to understand what can be preserved, explore our CPMS migration services or talk to our team.