Smart electric vehicle charging is being pushed as a way for New Zealand’s power grid to remain stable as more EVs get on the road, with the Government urged to place the same importance on EV charging as it has the uptake.
Evnex’s CEO, Ed Harvey, said recent close shaves with national power supply demonstrate the fragility of our network and the importance of managing increasing demand.
“Budget 2022’s new electric vehicle subsidy to help low-income New Zealanders buy EVs or hybrids is only half of the picture; smart charging also needs to be regulated to ensure households have enough, affordable power.”
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Evnex chargers are all smart, which means they can adjust their output and reduce load on the grid.
Smart charging automates the process of charging in off-peak hours and offers app-based control of how much energy a charger is using. Harvey told Stuff that owners can still ask for the full amount of power and override the system, but the idea is to reduce the load on the grid by adjusting the power consumption of a domestic charger.
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Smart chargers are then best suited for the majority of EV users that simply need their car charged up overnight, using AC charging technology.
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Other charging networks, like Hikotron, are also advocating for smart chargers.
That means, for example, you could plug your car into a smart charger when you get home from work and the charger will automatically adjust the energy rates depending on grid load, ensuring there’s enough power to go around. Then, when the load lessens later at night, the charger will ramp up the energy flow.
Using a three-phase 22kW connection (the most power AC chargers offer but not all EVs support), every EVs should be fully charged over a night. Slower 7kW connections (the standard for AC charging) should still result in a mostly, if not totally charged battery.
It’s done at a hardware level, which means the charger itself needs to be smart-capable. Harvey said that Evnex isn’t about to go and replace every charger already installed, it wants to ensure new chargers have smart capabilities.
KAI SCHWOERER/Stuff
Evnex founder and CEO, Ed Harvey.
He pointed to an initiative in Connecticut which is set to install 50,000 residential smart chargers by 2030. Connecticut and New Zealand are similar sizes and climates, and Harvey said there’s no reason we can’t do the same here.
“We need a charging network to be regulated now – to avoid blackouts and ensure we have enough supply to meet demand. It is possible to do this with smart charging; we’re calling on the Government and industry bodies to place the same importance on EV charging as they are on the uptake,” Harvey said.
Evnex currently runs more than 2000 smart chargers across New Zealand, with more on the way. Its chargers come in single-phase 7.4kW or three-phase 22kW sizes. Theoretically, smart chargers can be made to support faster DC chargers as well, but the current focus is on home AC charging as this is where the majority of charging occurs. Plus, DC chargers are more designed to charge at full power immediately, which removes the need to shift the energy demand.
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