We recently kicked off our new Tenix webinar series with a session on Making Sense of Charge Management. There are plenty of buzzwords in this space, like load balancing, peak shaving, and dynamic charging, but it’s not always clear when you actually need them or how to set them up for an electric fleet. Here are three key takeaways from the webinar, aimed at cutting through the jargon and making it easier for fleet operators to decide how to manage charging.
1. Load balancing – the non-negotiable foundation
Every depot has a set limit on how much power it can draw from the grid. For example, if you have 30 buses charging at 150 kW each, that’s 4.5 MW in total. If your grid connection only allows 3 MW, you need a way to spread out the charging, or you could end up with a blown fuse or even a full outage.
Load balancing solves this by sharing available power across all vehicles, based on which ones need it most and how much time they have left to charge. The system keeps track of your total capacity and adjusts as needed, so every vehicle gets charged up without ever going over your grid limit.
This is also where peak shaving comes in, and it’s easy to mix up the two.
2. Peak shaving – a different problem, a different cost
Your electricity bill has two parts: what you pay for the energy you use, and what you pay for your highest demand. Load balancing helps keep your operation running smoothly. Peak shaving is about keeping those demand charges in check.
If every bus plugs in at 6pm and charges at full power, your demand shoots up. Even if your grid can handle it, that short spike could set your capacity charge for the whole month. You don’t have to go over your limit to end up paying more—just hitting a high peak is enough.
Spreading out charging overnight keeps your demand steady, so you avoid those peaks without affecting when vehicles are ready. Most fleets notice this on their bills once they have more than 30 or 40 vehicles. Even operators who thought their grid limits were fine were surprised to see extra costs from unmanaged spikes.
3. Dynamic charging – optimising when you use energy, not just how much
In most places, you can pick a fixed electricity rate or go with spot pricing, where the price changes every hour. Dynamic charging takes advantage of this by charging more when prices are low and slowing down when prices go up, instead of always charging at full power as soon as vehicles get back.
To do this, you need to know tomorrow’s energy prices, when each vehicle needs to leave, and how much charge each one needs. You also need to see your total depot load in real time, so you can keep adjusting as things change. Some Nordic operators switched to spot pricing once they trusted their charge management, and they cut their energy costs without affecting operations.
Conclusion – making sense of charge management
Each of these three capabilities builds on the last. Start by checking your grid capacity and running a simulation based on projected fleet growth, not just your current vehicle count. Check your load profile across a full billing cycle to see whether short demand spikes are inflating your capacity charges. Then review your electricity contract. If variable pricing is available and you have the right data to use it, the savings are there to be captured.
Fleets managing all three levers have a real cost advantage over those managing one, and the gap widens as the fleet scales.
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