Operator preferred routing
Operator preferences allow you to control which charging networks the routing service prefers when calculating an EV route.
You can configure preferences in two places:
- Chargetrip dashboard: Set global operator preferences configuration for your project under project / advanced / station operator preferences.
- Create Route request: Define preferences dynamically or override dashboard operator preferences configuration per request using the
input.operatorsfield increateRoutemutation.
1. Preference Types & Route Behavior
Operator preferences come in four types, and each can be scoped to specific countries:
| Preference | Routing Behavior |
|---|---|
| Excluded | Stations from these operators are strictly excluded under all circumstances. |
| Avoided | Stations from these operators are avoided unless no better alternative exists. |
| Preferred | Stations from these operators are prioritized according to their ranking (high, medium, low). The higher the tier, the more likely the station is to be selected. The route will still use unranked or avoided stations if no better alternative exists. |
| Required | Only stations from these operators are used. Within this allowed pool, ranking tiers still apply, meaning high-ranked operators are preferred over medium- and low-ranked operators. If the vehicle cannot reach the destination using only ranked stations, route calculation fails. |
2. How dashboard-level preferences are applied
Understanding how request-level inputs interact with dashboard settings ensures predictable routing behavior:
- Dashboard Excluded and Avoided operators apply automatically:
Operators configured as Excluded or Avoided in the dashboard apply to every route calculation without requiring any parameters in your
createRouterequest. - Dashboard ranked tiers remain inactive without a ranking type:
Operators configured in ranking tiers must be activated by setting
input.operators.ranking.typein yourcreateRouterequest, otherwise they do not affect station selection. - Request-level operators replace respective dashboard preferences:
Specifying operator IDs in the
createRouterequest replaces only the corresponding configuration from the dashboard. For example, providinginput.operators.exclude[]replaces the entire dashboard’s excluded operators configuration, while dashboard-level avoid operators continue to apply.
3. Implementation Examples
Use Dashboard exclusions and avoidances only
Applies excluded and avoided operator configurations set in Dashboard. Dashboard ranked settings are inactive because no input.operators.ranking.type is specified.
Use Dashboard ranked operators as “Preferred”
Applies dashboard excluded and avoided operator configurations, and prefers stations that belong to the dashboard ranking tiers.
Use Dashboard ranked operators as “Required”
Restricts the route to charge exclusively at stations belonging to operators configured in dashboard ranking tiers.
Define custom preferences and override Dashboard settings
Provide full operator configurations directly in the API call. Any specified field (ranking, avoid, or exclude) overrides the corresponding dashboard configuration for that request.
Define custom preferences to specific countries
Provide full operator configurations directly in the API call. Any specified field (ranking, avoid, or exclude) overrides the corresponding dashboard configuration for that request.
Was this content helpful?