As a charging point operator or owner, maintaining a reliable and transparent charging network is vital to your business success. Station statuses give you complete visibility into your operations, showing when your charging points are performing as expected and when they require attention.

By understanding and managing statuses effectively, you can ensure:

• Maximum charger uptime
• Smoother maintenance operations
• Better driver satisfaction and trust
• Optimised network performance

This guide explains how to interpret and manage Administrative and Operative statuses across your pool of charging stations, so you can keep your network running efficiently and reliably.

In this guide, we will cover:

1. Understanding Station Statuses
2. Administrative Statuses 
3. Operative Statuses 
4. Usage Guidelines 

1. Understanding Station Statuses

The charging stations’ statuses are at the core of operational management. They help you monitor your pool of charging stations and identify issues before they affect your customers.

There are two main types of statuses:

• Administrative Statuses: Defined by you, the administrator or operator, to reflect business and operational decisions.
• Operative Statuses: Automatically reported by each charging point to the system to indicate its current condition.

2. Administrative Statuses

Administrative statuses represent the intended operational state of your pool of charging stations or individual charging points. They help you organise, plan, and control availability for maintenance, deployment, or decommissioning. 

2.1 General Administrative Statuses

Note: 

Please note that the Administrative statuses can be applied to both individual charging points and entire pools of charging stations.

A fifth internal status, Deleted, exists but is not visible in the system. Deleted pools are permanently removed and cannot be recovered.

2.2 Accessibility Statuses

Accessibility statuses indicate how drivers can access a pool of charging stations. These are informational only and do not affect operational availability.

How to Set These: 
Accessibility statuses can be configured in the Virta Hub, Stations tab. By default, your pool of charging stations remains visible to all drivers in the app. To hide a specific pool, you will navigate to 

Virta Hub → Edit Pool → Hide Pool.

2.3 Operational Implications 

Charging points marked with Deployment, Maintenance, or Out of Service status are automatically disabled in the driver app, preventing EV drivers from using them. These points remain visible on the end-user map unless they are manually hidden. 

Example Use Cases:

• Tag new or stored stations as In Deployment until fully installed.
• Use In Maintenance for stations undergoing repairs.
• Set Out of Service for stations temporarily or permanently closed.

Administrative statuses let you decide when and how your charging infrastructure is made available. They provide structure for deployment, maintenance planning, and user visibility, ensuring clarity across your network.

3. Operative Statuses

Operative statuses are automatically sent by your charging points and reflect their real-time operational behaviour. These statuses become active only when the charger's administrative state is marked as In Service.

3.1 Common Operative Statuses

If both Suspended by EV and Suspended by EVSE occur simultaneously, Suspended by EVSE takes precedence.

3.2 Typical Status Flow

Most chargers follow this operational flow: 
Available → Preparing → Charging → Finishing → Available

Some models briefly display Suspended by EV between transitions;  this is expected behaviour and does not indicate a fault.

3.3 Operational Insights

Monitoring operative statuses allows you to:

• Confirm chargers are online and responsive.
• Detect faults or communication issues quickly.
• Understand charging behaviour patterns and session frequency.
• Take action when stations go offline or are faulted.

Tip:

Set up automated alerts in the system to be notified whenever a charging point changes to Offline or Faulted status.

Operative statuses give you real-time visibility into how your chargers are performing. They are critical for identifying issues early, maintaining uptime, and ensuring drivers can always access a functioning station.

4. Usage Guidelines and Best Practices

To get the most from administrative and operative statuses, follow these best practices:

1. Use Administrative Statuses for Planning 
   Manage deployment and maintenance by grouping your stations by the state of your operations.
2. Monitor Operative Statuses Daily 
   Monitor live statuses to identify and resolve technical issues quickly.
3. Set Alerts and Reports 
   Automate notifications for Faulted or Offline stations to stay proactive.
4. Control Visibility Thoughtfully 
   If you want to permanently hide pools from drivers, use the “Hide Pool” option for any pool of charging stations not meant to appear in the public app.
5. Check Manufacturer Details 
   Minor differences in how statuses behave can depend on your station hardware and firmware.

By combining administrative control with real-time operational awareness, you can efficiently manage your pool of charging stations and provide a reliable charging experience to drivers.

That’s it! You now know the roles of administrative and operative statuses in charging stations. This empowers you to:

• Keep your pool of charging stations running at peak performance.
• Quickly identify and resolve technical issues.
• Maintain clear communication with EV drivers.
• Plan maintenance and deployments efficiently.
• Ensure consistent network uptime and customer satisfaction.