Build, buy, or own

There’s a third way to own the charging software

As fast to launch as SaaS. As flexible as building in-house. A customizable CPMS and eMSP core you own outright — and operators are building on it now.

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The decision

Three ways to get a charging platform

Operators are usually offered two options: rent a platform someone else owns, or build one from scratch. Both are legitimate, and each is genuinely the best answer to a particular question. There is also a third position, and it is the one least often put on the table.

What you get

The fastest route to a live network — configuration rather than a build
The lowest upfront cost, with the vendor carrying the engineering
Protocol support and compliance maintained for you

What it costs you later

Recurring fees that scale with charge points, transactions or revenue
Customization bounded by the vendor’s configuration layer and roadmap priorities
No codebase of your own, so switching vendors later means migrating live transaction data and retraining your operations team

What you get

Complete control of the codebase and the order features arrive in
No license fee and no per-charge-point economics
Every capability defined exactly as your business defines it

What it costs you

Twelve to twenty-four months before the first car charges on it
A permanent specialist team across protocols, security, certification and operations
Compliance built and certified from zero, with all of that risk carried internally

What you get

Live in weeks to months, because the core platform already exists
Full ownership of the customized codebase, source included
A one-time license, with no per-charge-point or per-transaction fees
Build-Operate-Transfer, so you can run it yourself or have us run it

What it costs you

A scoping phase before the build, where your team defines the customization in workshops
A platform you are responsible for, whether your team runs it or ours does under a support agreement
Compliance and protocol updates become your call on timing, with our team available to deliver them

What ownership actually changes

The third position is not a discount on the other two. It changes what you hold at the end of the term, and that shows up in five places.

code

The codebase is yours

Not a license to use someone else’s platform — the customized source, in your repository, with the documentation and architecture guides to work on it.

paid

Growth stops being a billing event

A one-time license rather than a fee per charge point or per transaction, so adding sites changes your revenue without re-pricing your software.

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You control the roadmap

Features arrive when you build them rather than when they reach the top of a vendor’s queue. You are not competing with other customers for attention.

security

Your data sits in your infrastructure

Cloud-agnostic deployment on your own estate, so residency, retention and access are decisions you make rather than terms you accept.

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Leaving is not a project

There is nothing to migrate off. Build-Operate-Transfer ends with a working platform you already own, whoever operates it next.

Delivery in progress

One core, three enterprise programs

The same Engine core sits under charging platforms for a European energy group, a Gulf charging network and a global carmaker — three very different businesses, three very different builds. Anonymized at each client’s request.

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A major Central European energy corporation

Codibly is building the CPMS platform on its Engine for one of the region’s largest integrated energy groups.

hub

A Gulf-region charge point operator

The same core is in delivery for a charge point operator scaling a national network.

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A global automotive OEM

An OEM-grade charging management platform, built on the same core.

A large electric-vehicle charging hub at dusk, with rows of unbranded fast-charging pedestals beneath dark canopies and cars connected at the bays

Which Engine is yours?

You operate the chargers

The Codibly CPMS Engine is the operator platform: multi-vendor charger management, tariffs, monitoring and reporting across a network you own.

Explore the CPMS Engine

Close-up of a charging connector plugged into an electric car's charging port at night, the port surround glowing mint green

You own the driver relationship

The Codibly eMSP Engine is the service layer: driver accounts and apps, pricing, loyalty, billing and roaming under your own brand. Most operators eventually want both.

Explore the eMSP Engine

Where each option actually wins

A detailed comparison across cost structure, ownership, customization, roadmap control and exit — including the cases where renting is still the right call.

Aerial view of a charging plaza at night with green data arcs rising from the bays, overlaid with a code panel reading SOURCE INCLUDED and one-time licence, no lock-in, illustrating ownership of EV charging management software

White Papers

EV Charging Management Software: Rent It, Build It, or Own It Read more

Rows of EV charge points at a large public charging plaza at dusk, illustrating vendor lock-in in EV charging and the cost of moving a network to a new management platform.

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Vendor Lock-In in EV Charging: The Cost of Leaving Read more

Electrical substation beside a public EV charging plaza illustrating the convergence of utilities and charge point operators, with grid infrastructure connecting to charging bays

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When the Utility Becomes the CPO Read more

OCPP backend build vs buy decision framework cover showing three diverging light paths

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OCPP Backend Software: Build, Buy, or Accelerate? Read more

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Book a scoping session

Bring us the network you actually have

A scoping session is a pair of workshops, not a sales call. We map your estate, your integrations and your constraints, and tell you which of the three positions fits — including when that answer is not us.