At Wevo Energy, we’re constantly innovating to improve the EV charging experience. Today, we’re thrilled to announce our latest feature: the Site Capacity Index. This powerful tool optimizes EV charging in multi-unit buildings and predicts when infrastructure upgrades are necessary.
What is the Site Capacity Index?
The Site Capacity Index is a daily calculated metric representing the percentage of a building’s connected energy used nightly by EV chargers. It’s a crucial indicator of how efficiently the available power is being utilized and helps predict when capacity upgrades may be needed.
How it Works
Our advanced algorithms balance and schedule the charging load, resulting in double the efficiency of competing platforms. In a typical European three-phase apartment building, we require only 3A per charger to ensure all vehicles are fully charged by morning. The Site Capacity Index is calculated by dividing the energy dispensed to all chargers by the maximum energy available during the nightly charging period.
The figure below shows the daily charging usage of a typical Wevo-managed building. The building has a three-phase electricity feed of 150 Amps and 52 connected chargers. Charging typically starts at 10 PM to take advantage of off-peak electricity costs. The red rectangle indicates the maximum energy that can be dispensed nightly to all the chargers in the building. The capacity index is the ratio of the colored area within the rectangle to the rectangle area.
Benefits of the Site Capacity Index
- Predictive Insights: Forecast when grid connection upgrades will be necessary.
- Optimization: Ensures efficient use of available power across all chargers.
- Cost-Effective: Maximizes existing infrastructure before recommending upgrades.
- User Experience: Helps maintain optimal charging experiences for all users.
Using the Site Capacity Index
We’ve integrated Capacity Index insights into our ‘Operator’ and ‘Account’ dashboards through two widgets:
- Site Utilization Widget: Displays sites with the highest capacity index over the last 30 days.
- Utilization Trend Widget: Shows a site’s utilization trend over the last ten weeks.
Managing High Capacity Sites
When a site reaches 80% utilization, consider these steps:
- Install a current meter on the main panel to switch from static to dynamic load management.
- Encourage tenants to charge daily to utilize less congested days.
- Incentivize weekend charging to shift load from peak nighttime hours.
Looking Ahead
We’re committed to continual improvement. Plans include adding subpanel capacity index calculations to help detect local capacity constraints.The Site Capacity Index is a game-changer in EV charging management, allowing for more efficient use of existing infrastructure and smarter planning for future upgrades. At Wevo Energy, we’re proud to lead the way in innovative EV charging solutions.
