What is electric vehicle charging load Balancing?

EV Charging Load balancing is an important feature of smart EV charging to prevent destabilization or overloading of the grid. It does this by managing the distribution of power at electric vehicle charging stations when more vehicles are charging simultaneously. EV charging load balancing functionality is a must-have feature for private or public EV charging stations and EV charging networks.

 

In general, it should be used where more electricity consumers can work at the same time.

If the power demand of the charging system exceeds the power supply of the grid, electric vehicle charging will pose a great danger to the grid.

When dynamic load balancing is used, the charging system reacts by changing the charging power at each charging point to prevent the grid from being overloaded.

Let's see how it works!

Static and dynamic EV charging load balancing

There are two types of load balancing, static and dynamic.

Static load balancing adjusts the available power between electric vehicle chargers based on the fixed allocation of supply capacity within the charging cluster.

Static load balancing is the distribution of traffic without regard to the current condition of the system.

Dynamic load balancing, on the other hand, uses intelligent solutions that adjust charging according to real-time conditions.

Dynamic EV charging load balancing

First, let's mention that load balancing for dynamic EV charging is an important feature. Dynamic EV charging load management and these two together constitute an important part of intelligent charging technology.

Dynamic load balancing algorithms consider the current state of the system and each consumer and allocate traffic accordingly.

Charging stations communicate in real time with EV charging management software and report demand and preferences.

Even if many chargers and other electrical devices work at the same time, there is no risk of overload.

Dynamic load balancing is a smart approach to electric vehicle charging that allows numerous electric vehicle charging points to operate simultaneously.

It provides the highest potential charging power without affecting the grid and power supply.

The load balancing system distributes the available on-site energy to the EV charging network in real time.

Therefore, the charging power can be limited instantaneously to meet the energy limitations brought about by the needs of other consumers.

Conversely, when the energy use of the same grid is lower, the power allocated may be higher.

In addition, the smart EV charging software will allow prioritization among chargers.

Home chargers and EV charging load balancing

When homeowners install electric vehicle chargers, dynamic load balancing is a must have feature.

In a house, electricity demand can easily reach maximum import capacity (MIC) if many appliances are running at the same time as EV charging.

Often, the electric car charger is the only device with intelligent energy management, so it is up to it to balance the consumption of the home.

To prevent overloading of the grid, dynamic load balancing will balance all household appliances and other consumers (heating, air conditioning...) .

Therefore, if the demand for power from other devices is too high, charging can be temporarily limited or stopped.

Public, workplace and residential charging points

The same goes for all companies that install chargers and provide EV charging for employees, EV fleets, tenants in multiple apartment buildings, or the general public.

If they do not want EV charging to interfere with other power consumption, they must install smart EV chargers with dynamic load balancing.

We often hear about this:

"If all EV drivers decided to charge their vehicles at the same time, the grid would collapse!"

Of course, it can happen, but only if we don't use dynamic load balancing.

Dynamic load balancing and power grids

It's true that EV charging has a big impact on the grid, and it's going to get even bigger.

This is one of the biggest challenges facing the organization. Problems facing electric vehicle charging infrastructure today.

Without dynamic load balancing, the grid will soon require significant updates and investments to accommodate the increasing number of electric vehicles and EV charging stations.

However, if used, dynamic load balancing will distribute the available power between different smart charging stations.

With real-time monitoring of available energy, it will limit or temporarily shut down the charger if power demand is too high.

As a result, the grid will not collapse or require a major upgrade.

Electric vehicle charging load sharing method

Ev charging load sharing is a term that describes how multiple EV chargers get power.

There are two general load sharing principles and a third that will become increasingly popular and depend on the vendor's business model.

Average load sharing

The principle of evenly distributed load sharing distributes the available electricity equally among all the charging stations in use at the time.

If there are five chargers in use, they will all receive 20% of the total available power.

When one car leaves, electricity is distributed to the remaining four cars, which means that each station will receive 25% of the total energy.

First come, first served load sharing method

The first-in, first-served principle follows the order in which the vehicle starts charging.

This means that the first connected vehicle will receive maximum power throughout the charging process.

The second car will receive the remaining energy; If there is any energy left, it goes to a third connected vehicle, and so on.

Priority load sharing method

As new business models and products evolve, some vendors can offer customers VIP plans or subscriptions that allow them to bypass designated load sharing plans and get preferential treatment.

In electric fleet management In this case, fleet operators use the principle of priority load sharing to allocate priority charging to some of their necessary vehicles. 

Ev charging load balancing is often incorrectly referred to as load management, but in reality, it is just one of the load management functions.