Variablegrid, a Vancouver, Canada-based power management company, has announced the release of its Electric Vehicle Energy Management System, or EVEMS, which can enable owners of older dwellings with limited electrical capacity to install Level 2 chargers without incurring the cost of upgrading their houses’ electrical panels.

Homeowners frequently discover that the electrical service available in older homes or apartment buildings is not sufficient to support the installation of a Level 2 charger. In such cases, the only alternative is often to upgrade the electrical panel.

Older residences, especially those that do not have central air conditioning, might only have a 60 A or 100 A electrical panel, while newer homes likely have a 200 A panel.

EVEMS uses the company’s load-sensing technology to monitor power consumption at a residence continuously and allocate power where it is needed most on a second-by-second basis. The system allows a Level 2 charger to coexist with all of a house’s other power-hungry appliances and devices, as the EVEMS platform will continually compute and then compensate for power demand.

“Most homes don’t use all their available power for the majority of the day or year,” Variablegrid CEO Greg Merrick said. “It’s only during peak demand times, like the hottest and coldest days, that full power capacity is used. This leaves a significant amount of idle capacity that can be designated for EV charging.”  

Source: Variablegrid