Case Study
BC Hydro improves charge success across one of Canada’s largest public charging networks
By connecting charger data, charging sessions and operational records, BC Hydro gained a clearer view of the issues affecting drivers—even when chargers appeared to be online and available.
Results at a glance
~60%
Improvement in charge success following cable replacement
~40%
Increase in charging power following cable replacement
~70%
Of customers using the charger were affected by reduced charging performance before a degraded power module was identified
Hours
Mean time to detection reduced to hours or days across multiple operational issues
“We already had good visibility into whether chargers were online and functioning. What we were missing was an understanding of what drivers were actually experiencing and why. Having that context helps us make better decisions across the network.”
Aaran Ferguson
Sr Manager Electric Vehicle Service Delivery
The operational challenge
Every day, BC Hydro's operations team makes hundreds of decisions that determine how drivers experience its public charging network.
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Some are straightforward. A hardware fault is reported and a field technician is dispatched. A charger becomes unavailable and is remotely reset. A communications outage is escalated to the network provider.
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Others are less obvious. A charger remains online but delivers significantly less power than expected. An authorization issue causes drivers to retry charging multiple times before a session finally begins. A firmware update subtly changes charging behaviour across multiple sites without triggering an obvious fault.
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Individually, these issues may appear to be relatively minor. Across a growing charging network, they can quietly accumulate, reducing Charge Success, increasing operational costs and creating a less reliable experience for drivers.
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To better understand these operational issues, BC Hydro integrated Clockwork, an operational intelligence platform for EV charging networks. By correlating OCPP data, charging sessions, maintenance records and operational events, Clockwork provides the operational context needed to understand what is happening across the network, identify root causes earlier and prioritize maintenance based on driver impact.
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The goal isn't simply to identify faults. It's to understand why they occur, how they affect drivers and where operational teams should focus first. As a result, BC Hydro has shifted from monitoring charger uptime to understanding charger performance.
“The greatest operational challenges are rarely caused by a single catastrophic failure. More often, they result from many small issues that accumulate over time, quietly affecting network performance and the driver experience.”
Joe English
Asset Management Planning Lead, EV Service Delivery
“The biggest difference was having the context behind what we were seeing. We already knew when chargers went offline. What we didn't always know was why drivers were having problems when the chargers appeared to be operating normally. That helped us investigate issues much more effectively.”
Alex Canning-Choi
EV Operations
The approach
Working with Clockwork, BC Hydro correlated OCPP data, charging sessions and maintenance records to investigate patterns that couldn't be seen in individual systems alone. Rather than asking whether chargers were online, the team began asking a different question:
Are drivers consistently able to charge when plug in?
That shift has fundamentally changed how the network is monitored and managed.
Four operational insights
01
When a charger is available but drivers still can't charge
BC Hydro initially believed a high number of authorization timeouts at one location were being influenced by driver behaviour, so the authorization window was extended from 30 to 60 seconds. Clockwork’s performance metrics showed that the change did not result in the expected improvement, while utilization at the location remained unusually low.
Further investigation pointed to a degrading charging cable that was preventing the charger from consistently detecting when a vehicle was plugged in. BC Hydro replaced the cable, restoring reliable operation before the problem became a complete hardware failure.
Results
Increased charge success by ~60%
Increased average charging power by ~40%, reaching approximately 60 kW
Established repeatable detection that can identify similar hardware degradation across the network before drivers are significantly impacted and the risk of equipment damage increases.
02
When drivers feel the problem before operators see it
Clockwork identified chargers where degrading power modules had reduced the maximum charging power available even though the chargers continued operating. Drivers still received a charge, but charging sessions took longer. At busy locations, reduced charging speeds increased the likelihood of queues, while some drivers chose neighbouring chargers instead. Because the chargers continued to operate, the degradation was not detected through traditional monitoring or routine field inspections.
Clockwork identified the issue based on changes in charging behaviour, allowing BC Hydro to prioritize maintenance before drivers experienced a complete loss of service.
Results
Identified degrading power modules before complete charger failure
Enabled BC Hydro to prioritize maintenance based on customer impact and site utilization
Reduced the risk of prolonged lower-power charging, which affected approximately 70% of customers using the charger
03
Understanding the impact of firmware updates
Firmware updates are intended to improve charger performance, but they can also introduce unexpected operational issues. Clockwork identified a pattern of low-energy charging sessions and authorization failures affecting a subset of chargers and correlated those changes with a firmware update that had been deployed remotely across the network.
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Clockwork identified the firmware update as the probable root cause within 14 hours. The analysis also revealed that one update occurred during the morning rush hour, temporarily taking chargers offline, interrupting multiple charging sessions.
By correlating firmware events with charger behaviour and charge success, Clockwork provided BC Hydro with the operational evidence needed to distinguish firmware-related issues from equipment failures or driver behaviour, enabling more informed discussions with the equipment manufacturer about update timing and quality.
Results
Identified the firmware update as the probable root cause within 14 hours
Reduced estimated mean time to detection from approximately 3 days to 14 hours
Quantified the operational impact of firmware updates on charger availability, charge success and customer experience
Provided evidence to support discussions with the equipment manufacturer about firmware quality and update scheduling
04
Responding to cable theft in minutes, not hours
Some operational events require investigation. Others demand an immediate response.
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Cable theft is an increasing challenge for public charging networks, leaving chargers unusable, creating safety risks and resulting in costly repairs. Clockwork detected cable cuts at seven BC Hydro sites and automatically notified the appropriate teams within minutes. Rather than waiting for a driver to report the damage or discovering it the next morning, BC Hydro's security team was alerted while the incident was still unfolding.
This gave BC Hydro the opportunity to coordinate with field personnel and law enforcement sooner.
Results
Detected cable theft within minutes providing automated detection capability not previously available to BC Hydro
Enabled earlier coordination between operations, security and law enforcement, reducing the time critical infrastructure remained compromised
Operational impact
Clockwork helps BC Hydro identify and prioritize operational issues that were previously difficult, or impossible, to detect using traditional monitoring alone. Hidden issues such as degraded power modules, cable degradation, firmware-related failures, intermittent connectivity and authorization failures are detected early, allowing maintenance to be prioritized before they result in complete outages or widespread driver impact.
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Beyond identifying individual issues, operational metrics provide BC Hydro with a consistent way to evaluate how different hardware, firmware and software perform across the network. Rather than relying on uptime alone, the operations team can compare technologies using real-world charging performance, identify recurring patterns and make more informed decisions about maintenance priorities, supplier performance and future network optimization.
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Clockwork also helps BC Hydro focus its attention where it has the greatest impact on drivers. Site readiness metrics identify locations where charging capacity has been significantly reduced or drivers are unable to charge successfully, allowing operations teams to prioritize those sites first. At the same time, Clockwork reduces mean time to detection, in some cases from weeks - to hours, enabling BC Hydro to investigate issues sooner, prioritize field work based on driver impact, and work with equipment manufacturers using operational evidence rather than assumptions.
Driver impact
The greatest benefit is experienced by EV drivers. Rather than simply identifying chargers that are offline, Clockwork helps BC Hydro understand the operational issues that affect the charging experience while chargers still appear available. Degrading cables, reduced charging power, firmware updates, authorization failures and many other subtle issues are identified before they become prolonged customer problems or rely on driver complaints for discovery.
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The examples in this case study represent just a small sample of the operational issues identified across BC Hydro's network. Together, they provide a clearer understanding of how the network is performing and help operations teams stay ahead of the many small issues that collectively determine Charge Success. The result is a more reliable charging experience, fewer unexpected disruptions and a greater likelihood that drivers can successfully get the energy they need when they plug in.
The operational shift
For BC Hydro, the experience reinforces an important operational lesson: charger uptime alone does not measure network performance. Understanding how chargers behave, and how drivers experience them, provides the insight needed to prioritize maintenance, improve charge success and operate a more reliable public charging network.
