A 7.4 kW charger draws as much power as several household appliances combined. In the evening, when the household is cooking, heating water or running a heat pump, the car gets plugged in too. Without precautions, the main circuit breaker trips. That is exactly what dynamic load balancing is for.
How dynamic load balancing works
Dynamic load balancing (sometimes called ‘load management’ or ‘load shedding’) continuously measures the home's total consumption using a sensor in the fuse box. The charger adjusts its power so that the total stays below the limit of your grid connection.
- The house is using little? The car charges at full power.
- The oven and dishwasher are running? The charger reduces its power, then ramps back up automatically.
The benefits
- No more tripped breakers, even at times of high demand.
- No need to upgrade your grid connection in most cases: you make better use of the power you already have.
- Lower consumption peaks, which matters wherever the tariff takes the power drawn into account, such as the capacity tariff in Flanders.
- Several chargers on the same connection: two cars at home, an apartment building or company car park.
Static or dynamic?
A static limit caps the charger at a fixed power level chosen at installation. Simple, but the car charges slowly even when the house is using nothing. Dynamic load balancing adapts in real time: that is what we recommend.
What is needed at installation
A metering sensor, often a current clamp or a meter in the fuse box, and a link to the charger (wired or wireless depending on the model). We install and configure them together with the charger.
In our configurator, smart charging is included in every installation.