Electric car charging station project

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  • #10364
    Katy
    Participant

    Hello,

    I am the technical manager for the town hall of a French city.

    In the city, we have 30 000 inhabitants and 15 000 cars. People mainly work out of town, and take the train to go to the bigger city 30km ahead. So we are thinking of installing 1 station with 2 terminals and 4 charging points on the car park of the train station. And we will install 1 terminal with 2 charging points in the car park in front of the city hall, where the market takes place.

    From the information we got during the Mayors fair, I have doubts on the electric architectures we need to put in place for those 2 stations? Some say we should have a dedicated panel board, others that the specific equipments for measurement or protection should be included in the existing switchboard? … And they are even other manufacturers that recommend that all the protection should be in the charging terminal and not in the switchboard? But I am not sure what is best to get an effective protection?

    #11760
    admin
    Keymaster

    Internationally difficult question to answer as the technical details may be easy to answer the electrical safety requirements for where your are often individual to your area.

    Where i live an electrical engineering company will be employed to design the arrangement of eqipment and an electrical contractor employed to install it to the specification and electrical safety rules. The companies maybe one and the same.

    While it maybe vague to yourself, the engineering and installation is often fairly standard, but obviously with anything even design and installation may not be the best and depends on who you use.

    #11785
    admin
    Keymaster

    By electrical standards, an electrical disconnect must be installed next to the electrical equipment. Necessary measuring apparatus such as overvoltage and overcurrent meters/alarm, fault indicator which are important to the awareness of the user must be installed on the chargers. Of course, we do not just use a charger (blankly) hoping it is working!

    #11789
    admin
    Keymaster

    Katy said:

    Hello,

    I am the technical manager for the town hall of a French city.

    In the city, we have 30 000 inhabitants and 15 000 cars. People mainly work out of town, and take the train to go to the bigger city 30km ahead. So we are thinking of installing 1 station with 2 terminals and 4 charging points on the car park of the train station. And we will install 1 terminal with 2 charging points in the car park in front of the city hall, where the market takes place.

    From the information we got during the Mayors fair, I have doubts on the electric architectures we need to put in place for those 2 stations? Some say we should have a dedicated panel board, others that the specific equipments for measurement or protection should be included in the existing switchboard? … And they are even other manufacturers that recommend that all the protection should be in the charging terminal and not in the switchboard? But I am not sure what is best to get an effective protection?


    Hi
    You have in France an excellent company specialized in chargers and UPS systems. Its name is Chloride.

    This information, you supplied here is not enough. I wouldn't spread here all the necessary data, but keep in mind: charging is very sensitive.

    Just example: if you don't have enough power 'to start charge' all process go in vain.

    #11793
    admin
    Keymaster

    The poles i have designed inlcudes internal MCB+RCD and measurment unit connected by communication.
    You may also use a simple KWh meter in the feeder side and current meter incase load shedding is required.
    The protection grounding connection method depends in the pole location relative to the feeder equipotential grounding zone and the feeder grounding method (TNC, TNC-S…). 

    #11791
    Katy
    Participant

    Thanks all for your help. I had contacted an engineering office to design the installation we need regarding the specifications of the standards in France and the charging capacity we would like to have. M.A you said for the poles you designed the MCB and RCD were included in the charger? Which brand will you recommend then?

    #11837
    admin
    Keymaster

    Hi there

     What electric vehicles do you expect to use the charging station? If they are only a specific kind of vehicle, you would require the specifications from the vehicle manufacturer. If the stations are intended for public use, then the charging points must be suitable for all possible vehicle manufacturers. There are international standards currently being drafted regarding electric vehicle charging, and this is a big issue if electric vehicles ever become mainstream. Anything you install now should be future proofed for these standards that are imminent.

     What type of charging stations do you require? Standard charging of fast charging? This greatly affects the electrical capacity and infrastructure required. For example, for standard charging (typical full charge around 8 hours), a domestic type socket outlet is suitable, or fast or rapid charging can charge a vehicle battery in approximately 20 minutes – but a  three-phase supply is required. 

     You would also want to ask questions regarding ownership of the chargers. Would you want to charge users for the electricity they use? How would you do this?

     There really are many issues to consider.

     Tying to answer your original question, here in the UK Elektromotive manufacture a product called Elecktrobay. This is one of many manufacturers, and although they may not be appropriate in your case, it is well worth having a scout around their website to get a better idea of what is needed. http://www.elektromotive.com  This kind of company also install the charging posts, and the use of a local company like this would be recommended as they should be aware of the many issues surrounding electric vehicle charging infrastructures.

    Finally, any electrical charging infrastructure you provide would have to meet your national wiring regulations, and although I am not aware of the French codes, I would assume they are based on European Harmonised documents and would required over-current protection etc (certainly protection would be required at the source of supply – i.e. in the switchboard!).

     Hope this is of some use.

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