SolarRally - EV Charging Station Management System

Overview

SolarRally is a comprehensive EV charging station management system designed for solar-powered charging infrastructure. The platform provides real-time monitoring, user management, session tracking, and IoT integration for electric vehicle charging stations. Access live webb app: https://solar-rally-global.web.app

🚀 Features

Core Functionality

• Real-time EVSE Monitoring: Live telemetry data from charging stations
• User Authentication & Management: Secure user registration, login, and profile management
• Charging Session Management: Track charging sessions, energy consumption, and costs
• Dashboard Analytics: Comprehensive dashboard with real-time metrics and historical data
• IoT Integration: MQTT-based communication with charging hardware
• Solar Integration: Monitor solar energy production and grid/solar energy switching

Technical Features

• WebSocket Support: Real-time data streaming to frontend
• RESTful API: Comprehensive API for all system operations
• Database Management: PostgreSQL with proper migrations and relationships
• Authentication: JWT-based authentication with refresh tokens
• Device Simulation: Mock EVSE publishers for development and testing
• Cloud Deployment: Production-ready AWS deployment configuration

🏗️ Architecture

Backend (FastAPI)

• API Server: FastAPI with automatic OpenAPI documentation
• Authentication: JWT tokens with bcrypt password hashing
• Database: PostgreSQL with SQLAlchemy ORM
• Real-time: WebSocket connections for live data
• MQTT Integration: Paho MQTT client for device communication

Frontend (React)

• UI Framework: React 18 with TypeScript
• Styling: Tailwind CSS with custom components
• State Management: React hooks and context
• Real-time Updates: WebSocket integration
• Responsive Design: Mobile-first responsive layout

Database Schema

• Users: User accounts with authentication
• EVSE Units: Charging station configuration
• Charging Sessions: Session tracking and billing
• Telemetry: Real-time device data storage

🛠️ Technologies

Backend Stack

• FastAPI - Modern Python web framework
• PostgreSQL - Relational database
• SQLAlchemy - Python ORM
• Pydantic - Data validation
• JWT - Authentication tokens
• Paho MQTT - IoT messaging
• Uvicorn - ASGI server

Frontend Stack

• React 18 - UI library
• TypeScript - Type-safe JavaScript
• Vite - Build tool and dev server
• Tailwind CSS - Utility-first CSS framework
• Lucide React - Icon library

DevOps & Cloud

• Docker - Containerization
• AWS - Cloud infrastructure
• Terraform - Infrastructure as Code
• GitHub Actions - CI/CD pipeline

📦 Installation & Setup

Prerequisites

• Python 3.9+
• Node.js 16+
• PostgreSQL 12+
• Docker (optional)

Local Development Setup

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/SolarRally.git
   cd SolarRally

2. Backend Setup

   cd backend
   
   # Create virtual environment
   python -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
   
   # Install dependencies
   pip install -r requirements.txt
   
   # Setup environment variables
   cp .env.example .env
   # Edit .env with your database credentials
   
   # Run database migrations
   alembic upgrade head
   
   # Start the backend server
   uvicorn app.main:app --reload --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

3. Frontend Setup

   cd frontend
   
   # Install dependencies
   npm install
   
   # Start development server
   npm run dev

4. Database Setup

   # Create PostgreSQL database
   createdb solarrally
   
   # The backend will automatically create tables on first run

5. MQTT Broker (Optional)

   # Install Mosquitto MQTT broker
   # Ubuntu/Debian:
   sudo apt-get install mosquitto mosquitto-clients
   
   # macOS:
   brew install mosquitto
   
   # Windows: Download from https://mosquitto.org/download/
   
   # Start broker
   mosquitto -v

🚀 Quick Start

1. Start all services

   # Terminal 1: Backend
   cd backend && uvicorn app.main:app --reload
   
   # Terminal 2: Frontend  
   cd frontend && npm run dev
   
   # Terminal 3: MQTT Broker
   mosquitto -v
   
   # Terminal 4: Mock EVSE (optional)
   cd backend && python mock_evse_publisher.py

2. Access the application

   • Frontend: http://localhost:5173
   • Backend API: http://localhost:8000
   • API Documentation: http://localhost:8000/docs

3. Create your first user

   • Navigate to the frontend
   • Click "Register" to create an account
   • Login and start monitoring your charging stations

🌐 AWS Deployment

SolarRally includes production-ready AWS deployment configuration using Terraform.

Quick AWS Deployment

# Configure AWS CLI
aws configure

# Deploy infrastructure
cd terraform
terraform init
terraform plan
terraform apply

# Deploy application
cd ..
./scripts/deploy_to_aws.sh deploy prod us-east-1 default

AWS Architecture

• IoT Core: Managed MQTT broker for device communication
• ECS Fargate: Containerized backend deployment
• RDS PostgreSQL: Managed database service
• S3 + CloudFront: Static frontend hosting with CDN
• Application Load Balancer: High availability and SSL termination
• VPC: Secure network isolation

For detailed deployment instructions, see AWS_GETTING_STARTED.md

📖 API Documentation

Authentication Endpoints

• POST /auth/register - User registration
• POST /auth/login - User login
• POST /auth/refresh - Refresh access token
• GET /auth/me - Get current user profile

EVSE Management

• GET /api/v1/evse/units - List all EVSE units
• POST /api/v1/evse/units - Create new EVSE unit
• GET /api/v1/evse/units/{unit_id} - Get specific EVSE unit
• PUT /api/v1/evse/units/{unit_id} - Update EVSE unit

Charging Sessions

• GET /api/v1/sessions - List charging sessions
• POST /api/v1/sessions/start - Start charging session
• POST /api/v1/sessions/stop - Stop charging session
• GET /api/v1/sessions/{session_id} - Get session details

Real-time Data

• WebSocket /ws - Real-time telemetry data stream
• GET /api/v1/telemetry/latest - Latest telemetry readings

Full API documentation available at /docs when running the backend.

🔧 Configuration

Environment Variables

Backend (.env)

# Database
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://username:password@localhost/solarrally

# Authentication
SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key-here
ALGORITHM=HS256
ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRE_MINUTES=30

# MQTT
MQTT_BROKER_HOST=localhost
MQTT_BROKER_PORT=1883
MQTT_USERNAME=
MQTT_PASSWORD=

# Application
DEBUG=True
CORS_ORIGINS=["http://localhost:5173"]

Frontend (.env)

VITE_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8000
VITE_WS_URL=ws://localhost:8000/ws

🧪 Testing

Backend Tests

cd backend
pytest tests/ -v

Frontend Tests

cd frontend
npm test

Integration Tests

# Start all services first
npm run test:integration

🐳 Docker Deployment

Development

docker-compose up --build

Production

docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d

📊 Monitoring & Analytics

Metrics Available

• Real-time Charging Data: Voltage, current, power, energy
• Session Analytics: Duration, energy consumed, cost
• User Analytics: Active users, session frequency
• System Health: API response times, error rates
• IoT Metrics: Device connectivity, message throughput

Dashboards

• Operations Dashboard: Real-time system overview
• Business Dashboard: Revenue and usage analytics
• Technical Dashboard: System performance metrics

🔒 Security Features

• JWT Authentication: Secure token-based authentication
• Password Hashing: bcrypt with salt rounds
• CORS Protection: Configurable cross-origin policies
• Input Validation: Pydantic models for API validation
• SQL Injection Prevention: SQLAlchemy ORM protection
• Rate Limiting: API endpoint rate limiting
• HTTPS: SSL/TLS encryption in production

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Development Guidelines

• Follow PEP 8 for Python code
• Use TypeScript for all frontend code
• Write tests for new features
• Update documentation for API changes
• Use conventional commit messages

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🆘 Support

• Documentation: Check the docs/ directory for detailed guides
• Issues: Report bugs and request features via GitHub Issues
• Discussions: Use GitHub Discussions for questions and community support

🗺️ Roadmap

Phase 7 (Planned)

• Mobile application (React Native)
• Advanced analytics and reporting
• Multi-tenant support
• Payment gateway integration
• Load balancing and auto-scaling

Phase 8 (Future)

• Machine learning for predictive analytics
• Integration with renewable energy forecasting
• Fleet management for commercial users
• API marketplace for third-party integrations

🙏 Acknowledgments

• FastAPI team for the excellent web framework
• React team for the powerful UI library
• PostgreSQL community for the robust database
• AWS for comprehensive cloud services
• All contributors and users of SolarRally

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Built with ❤️ for the future of sustainable transportation