What is Dynamic Load Balancing?
Note: Since originally publishing this blog, we’ve added double dynamic load balancing to our offering. Click here to go directly to an explainer of what this means.
Dynamic load balancing is an essential tool for all operators looking to manage an EV charging network. We cover what the latest industry-standard feature is, and how those with charging networks can use it to their advantage in this article.
What is EV charger dynamic load balancing?
EV charging requires a lot of power. Despite that, each building or site that installs EV chargers will have a limit on the power they can use without causing issues with the local grid.
As a result, those managing charging sites can face worries of being able to keep their chargers running at their advertised speed, and of meeting charging demand.
In comes Clenergy EV’s dynamic load balancing feature.
In short, dynamic load balancing is a smart software feature that allows you to use your limited power to its full potential. It automatically spreads the available load across the charging units you have in use allowing you to install up to six times more chargers on a single site, and eliminating the need for expensive electrical upgrades.
Sound confusing? We’ll use an example of a recent client.
Dynamic load balancing in action
Recently, we had a client with two EV chargers installed at their offices, with 64A available from their supply to power them.
The maximum charging output of the chargers they installed was 32A, meaning they could only install two. However, they quickly noticed that the two chargers often had lengthy charging queues, with employees and members of the public looking to top up their vehicles at the site.
Without basic load management, there would be nothing that the office manager could do to maximise the site's potential.
Using our software’s load management features, however, this 64A limit automatically spread the power available across four chargers, with each charger being configured to never exceed 16A when all four were in use.
Now, four of the office’s employees can charge their EVs at the same time without issue, instantly increasing their charging capacity without upgrading their facilities, whilst still remaining protected against outages.
And the real smart part is that once one of the four chargers is no longer in use, the load is just spread among the remaining chargers still in use (say three chargers, for example), allowing for an increased output of 21.3A for charging.
The same applies to larger sites. Using this system, we manage single sites with the number of chargers in the hundreds.
Why is dynamic load balancing important?
Without load management systems, the only other available method of increasing your electrical output is to undergo costly grid upgrades.
In the past, this has resulted in huge payouts, as those delivering the electricity infrastructure set the cost primarily onto the operators.
Now, the financial responsibility for these upgrades is more evenly distributed, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a substantial cost in both financial and employee resources for any organisation to undergo.
With smart load management systems built into Clenergy EV’s software service, you no longer have to worry about these grid shortage risks, and can still expand your site to meet growing charging demand.
Key usage tip: While the load management feature means you never exceed grid limits, charging is still affected by power supply limitations. For example, a charger that gives maximum output at 32A will deliver a slower charge, as the grid capacity may cap its usage at a lower amount such as 16A when spread across all the chargers you have in use at that same time.
Clenergy EV Charger Load Balancing
We offer the following methods for load balancing:
- Static Load Balancing
- Dynamic Load Balancing
- Double Dynamic Load Balancing
So we’ve covered how dynamic load management works. But if you’re a network operator, you’ll want to make sure the systems you use suit you. So now it’s time to understand the most common types of load balancing on offer from your EV charging providers:
Static Load Balancing
The first of the three types currently on Clenergy EV’s scope is static load balancing. This is the most basic type of load balancing, but nonetheless is incredibly important to otherwise unprotected sites. Static load balancing simply means that the electrical load is managed across your available limits, with a flat rate allocated to each charger.
Dynamic Load Balancing
That’s where the next step comes in. We’ve covered dynamic load balancing, but just as a quick recap, dynamic load balancing takes into account how many of your chargers are in use. That means that if three of four chargers on a site were being used, for example, the power freed up by the dormant fourth charger would be spread across the chargers in use. So if all four chargers were capped at 16A each, and one of them stopped being used, the chargers would receive 21.3A each for quicker charging.
Double Dynamic Load Balancing
Finally, we come to double dynamic. This type of load balancing is smarter, and requires a physical device to be hooked up to your building or site's mains. With this device measuring the output of the overall building, we're able to monitor when the building’s/site’s usage dips, and supply additional power to your EV charging operation.
That means more power available for charging at night, for example, when office buildings typically use far less power.
How Can I Use It?
As we’ve already touched on, our regular dynamic feature happens in the background while charging on your network. It’s available as part of the standard Clenergy EV software package, at no additional cost. All that’s needed is the entering of the available power supply from the electrician commissioning your charging site.
For our more advanced double dynamic offering, clients will need to contact our team via the form at the bottom of this page (or our contact us section) to notify that an upgrade is needed, and we’ll take it from there.
The Key Benefits: A Summary
Ultimately, all of these solutions are crucial for the stability of the grid, and bring huge benefits for operators. With load balancing built in to your software systems you can:
- Charge up to six times as many vehicles on a single site: take advantage of your full charging potential to charge as many as six times the number of vehicles on a single site.
- Protect against costly infrastructure upgrades: avoid paying expensive upgrades to your site's local facilities by making the most of available power without worrying about overuse.
- Maximise high-footfall sites: increase the profitability of your high-footfall sites, making the most of the land you obtain as EV charging competition at high-use areas like service stations grows.
Book A Software Demo
If you’re interested in backing your EV chargers with smart software with a suite of in-built tools to help streamline management, save costs, and reduce organisational emissions, get in touch through the form below to book a low-commitment demonstration with a member of our team.
