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What is Load Balancing? Do I need it?

Last Updated: February 16th, 2023 | EV Charging Management Platform

The electric revolution is in full swing, and site owners across the world want to install chargers. Managers want to provide better services to their customers, to generate revenue in their parking lots, or to attract EV-owning tenants and clients. This all sounds great, but many business owners are running into a real problem when it comes to balancing the load from all that demand for charging!

The world we live in right now wasn’t constructed in the electrified age. Electrical grids or wiring can’t always keep up with the modern appetites of electric vehicles. They want power, and they want it now!

Never Enough Power to Balance the Load

Site owners may wonder, “is the problem due to my power panel?” Maybe. It’s possible the site cannot support charging many cars at once. Or the limitation may be due to the power provided by the utility. Not every grid was built to distribute power in the EV era. So what should you do when there’s a power constraint that says you can only install 4 charging stations, but you have space for 16? That would be 4x more connectors for drivers! Can you take full advantage of your space without the expense of completely refurbishing your electrical setup?

Option 1: Install 4 Charging Stations

It’s less than ideal, but you could work with what you already have. Select charging station operating systems, like Noodoe EV OS, that automate the charging service. Noodoe EV OS can send a text message to a user when their vehicle is fully charged. This encourages the driver to move their vehicle so they aren’t charged an occupancy fee. People don’t want to pay extra money for using the parking space when their EV battery is already full. This solution is good for restaurants or shopping malls, but less ideal at hotels, apartments, or business parks. The owner might be sleeping or in the middle of a workday. Updating your charging management software uses the hardware you have but limits the site potential.

Option 2: Noodoe EV’s Smart Energy Management

One could also call this fancy energy math. Say you go ahead and install the 16 chargers you wanted, despite being told the available power can only support 4. Load balancing is the magic that makes it possible to install up to 4x as many chargers as you originally thought.

How Does it Balance the Load?

noodoe ev os power features - load management - load balancing - what happen with you don't have load management at your ev charging site render
On Standard System

As each car pulls up to a charger, everything works as expected. Cars 1-4 plug in, and the drivers go on their merry way while their vehicles charge. Once Car 5 pulls in, Noodoe EV OS takes over. 

The program oversees the chargers for how much energy they’re drawing and how much they need to keep the total energy use under the max usable load. This means that when the 5th or 10th or 16th car pulls up to charge, the other chargers automatically adjust to make space for the next vehicle. They share the load!

It’s like everyone scooting their chairs together to make space for one more person at the dinner table. The more the merrier! We may be squeezed in tightly, but with a little effort we can make room for one more.

When that new car shows up, the other chargers redistribute the available energy across the chargers. Once a vehicle finishes charging, the station recognizes that it’s done and reallocates the power that the car was using. There’s no need to move one car so another can takes its place to charge. Instead, Noodoe EV OS moves the electricity. Everyone else gets a little more power while that finished vehicle hangs out, taking up space but not limiting the power needed by the charging cars. The best part is that the whole thing happens automatically.

noodoe ev os power features - load management - load balancing - load management at your ev charging site render
The Magic of Load Balancing

The Bottom Line

There are different ways to approach load issues. However, it’s important to remember that there’s no reason to feel limited by your grid. Noodoe EV OS’s load balancing microservice supports 4x more chargers than the standard setup; it’s well worth a look if you have restrictions on power but not on space.

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