EV Charging
Smart charge point regulations explained
Dr Chris Horne, chief technical offi cer at myenergi, discusses the upcoming introduction of new EV changing regulations and explains why installers, wholesalers and the rest of the electrical industry need to make sure they’re up to date.
A
t the end of June, the way we charge electric vehicles is going to change. That’s when The Electric Vehicles Smart Charge Point Regulations 2021 come into force.
But hang on. Don’t you just plug in and charge? Well in theory, yes. Charging your EV at home or work is really simple – although you can charge from a standard (13A) socket – you ideally need to have a suitable charge point installed for topping up your battery.
Currently charge points simply need to be ‘internet connected’ – which often means some nice visual tools in a mobile app – with some charge points also allowing you to set schedules so that you charge overnight when the electricity prices from some energy suppliers are lower. Great for EV drivers, but what happens if every EV starts charging at the same time? Well, there are lots of people who enjoy spreading doom and gloom about EV’s and the electricity supply. According to the National Grid,
26 | electrical wholesalerApril 2022
who manage the electricity transmission network, there’s plenty of capacity to meet the future electricity demand – but not if everyone charges at the same time. That’s what the new smart charge point regulations are aiming to solve.
How does the Electricity Grid work? Although it’s now possible to buy batteries for your home (and of course an EV is just a big battery on wheels) it’s very diffi cult and expensive to store the vast amounts of energy supplied through the electricity network. Instead, the grid works by continuously balancing the amount of electricity generated by power stations, wind turbines and solar panels to match the total electricity demand at the same time. If the demand goes up, then more generation needs to be turned on. National Grid also has the option to ask customers to reduce their load – something called a “Demand Response Service” (and the customer gets paid for reducing their consumption).
Dr Chris Horne
The problem we could face with EV charging is that if everyone starts to charge at the same time (i.e., at the start of a low price electricity tariff ) then the increase in demand will be too quick for
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