Practical advice for designers

Design charging according to the energy vehicles need while parked and the capacity of the distribution circuits. AgeVolt EMS helps share the available power between multiple charging points. It does not replace cable sizing, circuit protection or a design for the specific site.

Design inputs

• The current number of charging points and planned expansion.
• Vehicle types, their AC/DC charging, required energy and parking duration.
• The main circuit breaker rating, reserved capacity and other limiting points.
• Building consumption, existing metering and available interfaces.
• Cable route lengths, cable installation method, distribution boards and how stations will be mounted.

Cabling, phases and protection

Size cables and circuit protection for the permitted load of the particular circuits. Take account of installation method, length, voltage drop and phase imbalance caused by single-phase vehicles. The sum of station nameplate ratings need not be the required simultaneous demand if reliable control has been designed. The availability of EMS alone is not a reason to select a smaller conductor cross-section without a calculation.

Where to meter and what to limit

On a circuit supplying only chargers, the current limit can be controlled using their own measurements. For a supply with mixed loads, the other consumption must also be known. SmartSystem can use a SmartMeter or compatible existing metering through Modbus TCP/RTU. The main supply and sub-circuits can have different limits in A and kW.

Count devices on CIB, rather than only chargers

The basic SmartSystem bus has capacity for 32 hardware elements. A SmartMeter, EV module and display count separately. A single charger with a display has two elements; a double charger has three. Larger configurations use a Smart Extender according to the connection design.

Illustrative building example

A building has a shared main supply, sub-distribution boards and multiple charging circuits. Control monitors the limits of both the main supply and the relevant circuits. When building consumption increases, it limits the available charging power according to priorities. The exact station count and conductor cross-sections come from the design. This explains the principle, rather than describing a named installation.

Design documents

Start in the library for designers. Select installation documents for the exact model and variant. Infrastructure preparation is covered by Advance preparation and installation of charging stations, and metering questions by AgeVolt EMS FAQ - Design, configuration and operation. For help selecting equipment and documentation, contact AgeVolt technical support.