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Article

A Reference Architecture for Smart Charging Management Systems for Electric Vehicles

1
Department of Computer Engineering, Yeditepe University, Istanbul 34755, Türkiye
2
DFDS, Istanbul 34746, Türkiye
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Designs 2026, 10(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/designs10010004
Submission received: 14 November 2025 / Revised: 14 December 2025 / Accepted: 29 December 2025 / Published: 3 January 2026

Abstract

Smart charging management systems for electric vehicles (SCMSs) enable the effective management of electric vehicle (EV) charging processes using smart technologies. Numerous SCMS technologies have been available for different stakeholders, e.g., EV drivers, charging station managers, and car manufacturers. Despite the ever-increasing interest in SCMSs, the literature lacks in reusable, standardised architecture design that reduces the effort for the development of quality SCMSs. In this paper, we propose a reference architecture (RA) for SCMSs. Our RA design is based on our comprehensive domain analysis that encompasses the analysis of the existing literature and commercial technologies which have been supported by our survey on EV drivers. In our RA, we provide four different viewpoints. The context viewpoint classifies the potential stakeholders and their roles and responsibilities. The module viewpoint defines the software implementation units and their modules that can be used for implementing any SCMSs. The component and connector viewpoint defines the executing parts of any SCMSs and their organisations into layers. The allocation viewpoint defines how the executable components can be mapped into the physical devices. We validated our RA design via prototyping and surveying to measure the RA’s applicability in real-world scenarios and usability for stakeholders.
Keywords: smart EV charging; reference architecture; software architecture; multiple viewpoints smart EV charging; reference architecture; software architecture; multiple viewpoints

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MDPI and ACS Style

Ozkaya, M.; Turunc, A.; Togrul, Y.T. A Reference Architecture for Smart Charging Management Systems for Electric Vehicles. Designs 2026, 10, 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/designs10010004

AMA Style

Ozkaya M, Turunc A, Togrul YT. A Reference Architecture for Smart Charging Management Systems for Electric Vehicles. Designs. 2026; 10(1):4. https://doi.org/10.3390/designs10010004

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ozkaya, Mert, Alper Turunc, and Yusuf Talha Togrul. 2026. "A Reference Architecture for Smart Charging Management Systems for Electric Vehicles" Designs 10, no. 1: 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/designs10010004

APA Style

Ozkaya, M., Turunc, A., & Togrul, Y. T. (2026). A Reference Architecture for Smart Charging Management Systems for Electric Vehicles. Designs, 10(1), 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/designs10010004

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