BC Hydro and Clockwork Identify Cable Issue, Improving Charge Success by 60%

Canada’s BC Hydro operates 929 electric vehicle (EV) charging ports across 192 locations in British Columbia, with plans to grow its network to 3,500 ports by 2035.

BC Hydro is using Clockwork, an operational intelligence platform for EV charging networks, to gain a clearer understanding of the issues affecting drivers across its public charging network.

By connecting OCPP data, charging sessions, maintenance records and operational events, BC Hydro can identify root causes earlier and prioritize maintenance based on driver impact. The shift moves the utility beyond monitoring whether chargers are online to understanding whether drivers are consistently able to charge when plugged in.

The results reported in Clockwork’s case study include an approximately 60% improvement in charge success following cable replacement and a roughly 40% increase in charging power. About 70% of customers using one charger were affected by reduced charging performance before a degraded power module was identified. Mean time to detection was reduced to hours or days across multiple operational issues.

In one case, BC Hydro initially believed authorization timeouts at a location were influenced by driver behavior. The authorization window was extended from 30 to 60 seconds, but the change did not produce the expected improvement. Clockwork’s performance data showed unusually low utilization, leading to further investigation. A degrading charging cable was found to be preventing the charger from consistently detecting when a vehicle was plugged in. After the cable was replaced, charge success increased by approximately 60%, while average charging power increased by approximately 40%, reaching about 60 kW.

Clockwork also identified chargers where degrading power modules had reduced maximum charging power even though the chargers remained operational. The reduced charging speeds caused longer sessions and increased the potential for queues at busy locations. Clockwork identified the issue through changes in charging behavior, allowing BC Hydro to prioritize maintenance before a complete charger failure. The degradation affected approximately 70% of customers using the charger.

Firmware updates provided another example. Clockwork identified a pattern of low-energy charging sessions and authorization failures affecting a subset of chargers and correlated the changes with a remotely deployed firmware update. The update was identified as the probable root cause within 14 hours, reducing the estimated mean time to detection from approximately three days to 14 hours. The analysis also showed that one update occurred during the morning rush hour, temporarily taking chargers offline and interrupting multiple charging sessions.

Cable theft is another operational challenge. Clockwork detected cable cuts at seven BC Hydro sites and automatically notified the appropriate teams within minutes. The earlier notification allowed BC Hydro’s security team to coordinate with field personnel and law enforcement sooner, reducing the time critical charging infrastructure remained compromised.

Clockwork helps BC Hydro identify issues that can be difficult or impossible to detect through traditional monitoring alone, including degraded power modules, cable degradation, firmware-related failures, intermittent connectivity and authorization failures. Operational metrics also allow the utility to evaluate hardware, firmware and software based on real-world charging performance and prioritize maintenance according to driver impact and site utilization.

For EV drivers, the focus is on problems that can affect charging even when a station appears available. By identifying degrading cables, reduced charging power, firmware issues and authorization failures before they become prolonged customer problems, BC Hydro can work to improve charging reliability and increase the likelihood that drivers successfully receive the energy they need when they plug in.

The experience reinforces an important operational distinction: charger uptime alone does not fully measure network performance. Understanding charger behavior and its effect on drivers provides additional insight for prioritizing maintenance, improving charge success and operating a more reliable public charging network.

Clockwork Makes EV Charging More Reliable

Clockwork is helping EV charging operators make reliable charging the standard rather than the exception. Its operational intelligence platform detects, diagnoses, and helps resolve EV charger reliability issues before they affect drivers, uptime, or revenue. Rather than replacing an existing charging management system, Clockwork works alongside it, combining operational data across the charging network to identify problems and improve charge success. The platform integrates with more than 25 hardware, software, operations, and service partners and monitors the broader charging system, including OCPP data, SIM cards, routers, and electrical components.

Clockwork provides an end-to-end reliability layer covering monitoring, detection, diagnosis, resolution, and field dispatch. Its vendor-agnostic approach allows charging operators to work across hardware and software systems while giving operations teams better visibility into the issues that can leave drivers facing failed charging sessions. As EV adoption grows, dependable charging is increasingly important to driver confidence and network performance. Learn how Clockwork can help make charging more reliable.

Book a Clockwork Demo today with the friendly and knowledgeable team.