Meeting EV charging demand within grid limits: the role of advanced load balancing

Graeme Wintle, Director, Versinetic, reveals why traditional power allocation methods are falling short as charging networks scale.

As electric vehicle (EV) adoption accelerates, the demand for charging infrastructure is also growing rapidly, putting increased pressure on-site operators to deliver reliable, scalable charging solutions within the constraints of existing power supplies.  For large-scale sites such as commercial office and shopping sites, residential shared infrastructure, motorway service areas, the challenge is not only about installing more chargers but doing so in a way that avoids grid overload, minimises downtime and allows for easy remote maintenance.

Many commercial and municipal sites are already operating at or near their grid capacity if chargers are being fully utilised, meaning that the chargers are in use and they are running at their maximum output. Most commercial AC chargers for instance can charge at 22KW, however only a handful of cars can consume more than 11KW AC. In this case, a bank of AC chargers will in most cases be only taking 50% of the maximum power. DC chargers are similar, many chargers are capable of high outputs in the 100’s of KWH but depending on the car connected may be consuming just a portion of this. When installing charging equipment without the aid of a dynamic load balancing system the installation must be taken as worst case, this is very wasteful of available power, both costing additional money for the electrical infrastructure but also limiting the number of chargers that can be installed.

This is a growing concern as forecasts suggest infrastructure will need to scale dramatically in the years ahead.  McKinsey, for example, estimates that more than 55 million EV charge points will be required globally by 2030 to support expected vehicle growth. With this scale of demand, it is increasingly clear that relying on conventional infrastructure expansion alone will be neither affordable nor fast enough.  Dynamic load balancing offers a practical alternative, allowing operators to expand charging capabilities while making full use of the power already available on-site.

At present, EV charging sites relying on their worst-case power consumption will be severely limited in their expansion. One alternative is to throttle charging power uniformly across all chargers when demand peaks (or at certain times). While serviceable this falls short when scaling up with dozens or hundreds of charge points.  No consideration is taken for building usage or any site generated power such as solar.

Dynamic load balancing addresses this by redistributing power across chargers in real time based on the power the chargers are outputting when in use, building power and even inputs such as solar or battery power. This makes better use of existing capacity and maximises charging for users when utilisation is low in other areas of the site.

The deployment of rapid chargers introduces significant amounts of energy draw in shorter bursts than AC chargers. It is here that load balancing solutions can monitor power usage and adjust allocation, putting priority onto faster chargers for quicker turnaround time but still allowing AC charging safely in the background.

Dynamic load balancing systems can also bring benefits of operational monitoring, email reports or notifications of issues, and the ability to remotely configure systems without the need to travel distances onto site.

Crucially, to maintain flexibility and future compatibility, any load-balancing system needs to be charger-agnostic. In a market that includes a wide range of hardware providers interoperability is essential.  Charger-agnostic solutions allow for integration with multi-vendor environments and flexibility in charger selection, reducing vendor lock-in and making it easier for operators to adapt to regulatory or technological changes. For instance, load balancers supporting OCPP 1.6J now may meet the needs of today’s requirements but will they also support OCPP 2.0.1 in the future?

Scalability is a consideration, effective load balancing needs to function not just across a few chargers but across dozens or even hundreds, sometimes spanning multiple metering points, transformers or switch boards.  Modular systems are already available that support distribution across these complex sites, monitoring key points even with different voltage and phase requirements. These scalable architectures support phased rollouts and future growth, ensuring that infrastructure investment can grow with demand.

Ease of installation and minimal operational disruption are also essential.  Systems designed to retrofit into existing charging networks, often without the need for significant civil or electrical works are ideal.  This allows upgrades or expansions to be completed in a matter of hours rather than days.  Once deployed, such systems typically require little maintenance and can be managed either on-site or remotely, providing ongoing control and visibility with minimal overhead.

Dynamic load balancing ensures that power is distributed fairly and efficiently during periods of peak demand, often without any noticeable change to the power output given even if there was no load balancing in place. These systems rarely work at their maximum output but in the rare instance that all chargers on a site are in simultaneous maximum usage, load balancing ensures that the total draw remains within the site’s capacity.

Looking ahead, dynamic load balancing may increasingly be integrated with other technologies to further enhance performance and sustainability.  Pairing it with battery energy storage, peak time grid usage data, energy price monitoring systems, and other complex systems allows for flexibility in infrastructure expansion.

With new regulations on the horizon—such as the EU’s Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR), which mandates minimum availability and uptime for public EV chargers, and the UK’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate starting in 2025, which will require a rising proportion of new vehicle sales to be electric—the pressure to deliver high-performance, reliable charging infrastructure is mounting.  Dynamic load balancing supports site operators in meeting these obligations by maximising available power without the need for extensive grid reinforcement.

Versinetic recently developed SiteManager, a local load balancing system designed to dynamically control power at electric vehicle (EV) charging sites across both AC and DC chargers.