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EV Solutions
Energy Load Study
EGen Electrical offers an energy logging service focused on providing critical data and feedback on your building’s existing electrical installation and if it is capable of supporting electric vehicle charging. With every EV charger installed that is not on load management or the building’s electrical capacity is unknown, your building’s main switches are closer to hitting capacity and tripping, thus losing power to part or the entire building.
Energy logging is a cost-effective and safe way to monitor the power consumption, providing you with invaluable insights to ensure that you stay ahead of any potential overload scenarios while optimising your energy utilisation effectively.
Your building does not have an unlimited power supply.
Many new and older buildings have been allocated power and electrically designed where at the time there were far fewer appliances and electrical goods such as air conditioners, and there was no thought into electric vehicle charging.
The likelihood of overloading your mains supply increases as more electrical appliances have been added. The likelihood of this happening is during peak times of the day, generally in the morning between 5am and 9am, then again in the afternoon between 4pm and 9pm. From the data collected from a load study, we can see if load management is required, and to what type of load management is required to implement electric vehicle charging into the building. If a load study is carried out and the correct EV charging strategy is implemented, you will save yourself headaches and additional expenses later on.
With the increase in the global uptake of electric vehicles, we are seeing multiple issues with finding ways to provide charging for them. This is even more so in apartment and office buildings now requiring places for tenants and staff to charge their EVs. A 7kW EV charger, consuming 32 amps, is comparable to the power draw of a sizeable air conditioning unit or a typical oven with a hotplate used during meal preparation. When multiple electric vehicles are charging simultaneously, it becomes increasingly likely to approach or surpass the maximum capacity of the building’s main switch.
For a period of a week, we monitor your power usage starting with our experienced team installing our data logger into your main switchboard, in some circumstances we may need to come back within that week to reposition the data logger and monitor a separate section of the switchboard. We temporarily install current transformers to the mains supply to the building which measures and analyses the power every minute over the week. This provides us with a very precise reading of exactly what power is being consumed at what time and for how long.
At the end of the testing period, the data logger is retrieved, and you are supplied with a detailed report of your building’s energy consumption at different times of the day and week.
Energy logging is a relatively inexpensive process that benefits your entire building and can generally be covered by your strata or company title fees. This is one of the first steps to take when considering installing any electric vehicle charging stations in a building.
Take control of your building’s energy future. Contact EGen Electrical now to schedule your energy monitoring and ensure a smooth transition to electric vehicle charging.