EV Charging Station Management System

A cloud-native EV Charging Management System built for a provider of mobile, containerized EV chargers. The system enables secure, real-time monitoring and control of a distributed, rapidly deployable charging fleet.

Goals

  • Real-time telemetry ingestion and visualization
  • Remote control of charging units
  • Scalable analytics for operational insights
  • Low-latency, secure communication with field devices

Technologies Used

IoT & Communication

  • MQTT – Lightweight messaging protocol for real-time telemetry
  • Azure IoT Hub – Secure device provisioning and message routing

Backend & Serverless

  • C# / .NET – Core backend development
  • Azure Functions – Event-driven compute for processing and APIs
  • Azure Event Hubs – High-throughput telemetry ingestion
  • Azure Stream Analytics – Real-time data filtering and alerting

Data & Analytics

  • SQL Server – Structured storage for metadata and operational logs
  • Azure Data Explorer (ADX) – Time-series analytics and fleet-level insights

Frontend

  • Nuxt (Vue.js) – SSR-compatible, responsive dashboard application

Architecture

Data Flow

Telemetry Path:

  1. Chargers connect via MQTT to Azure IoT Hub
  2. Data is routed to Azure Event Hubs
  3. Azure Stream Analytics filters/processes events
  4. Output is stored in:
    • SQL Server for structured state
    • Azure Data Explorer for analytics

Command Path:

  • Operator commands (e.g., reboot, reconfigure) are sent from the dashboard
  • Routed through Azure Functions
  • Delivered back to devices via MQTT through IoT Hub

Dashboard Features

Built with Nuxt (Vue 3) and powered by Azure APIs:

  • Live charger status (state, health, telemetry)
  • Interactive map with GPS tracking
  • Remote actions: restart, lock/unlock, update config
  • Historical trends and fleet performance charts

Results

  • Fleet-wide real-time observability with low latency
  • Remote control and device action execution via MQTT
  • Scalable ingestion and processing of high-frequency telemetry
  • Actionable analytics via Azure Data Explorer
  • Cloud-native, serverless architecture with minimal maintenance overhead

Key Learnings

  • MQTT is ideal for lightweight, bi-directional IoT communication
  • Combining Azure Stream Analytics and ADX balances real-time and historical data needs
  • Azure Functions scale efficiently for reactive backends
  • Nuxt provides fast, modern UI development for data-heavy apps

Tools and Skills Used

  • C#
  • Azure Functions
  • Azure IoT Hub
  • Azure Event Hubs
  • Azure Stream Analytics
  • Azure Data Explorer
  • MQTT
  • SQL Server
  • GitHub Actions