Developing virtual OCPP stations with Node.js & React in TypeScript

Abstract

The author wrote the thesis as a product thesis for Virta Ltd, a company that specialises in electric vehicle charging solutions. The work consists of applications that act as virtual charging stations. The product includes a user interface written in React and TypeScript, a server written with Node.js and NestJS and a deployment pipeline using Kubernetes with Google Cloud Platform. The theory part of the thesis cover on various topics related to the product: OCPP, HTTP & WebSocket, JavaScript and TypeScript, Node.js, NestJS, ReactJS and DevOps. The first part of the product represented how to develop the user interface for the server by utilising ReactJS with TypeScript alongside a mock server. The second part emphasises on having a Node.js server that acts as virtual stations that can connect to a central system. The server communicates with a MySQL database. The product’s final part lays out how to deploy the applications with Kubernetes, CI pipeline on Google Cloud Platform. The product describes comprehensive details of the technical development of each application. It can be used as examples for learning the relevant technologies. Furthermore, if one is interested in electric vehicle charging, the thesis offers relatable technology knowledge in the industry. The last part concludes the thesis with discussion thoughts from the author regarding encountered problems, pros & cons of the product as well as the lessons learned during the development process.