New EV chargers in the car park: how do we watch the load peaks they cause?

[DataStream]

We installed eight EV charging points in our company car park, fed from an existing sub-distribution panel. Since then, the panel's main breaker has tripped twice in the morning when many employees plug in at the same time. Our electrician also suspects that the load is not evenly distributed over the three phases.
We are planning to install an analyzer on this panel. What should we measure and track so we can understand the peaks and decide whether we need load management or a bigger supply?

[Technical Support]

An analyzer on the incoming feeder of that panel is the right first step. Focus on these measurements:
1. Phase currents L1, L2, L3
Single-phase chargers and uneven connection often load one phase much more than the others. The breaker trips on the most loaded phase, even if the total power looks acceptable. Compare the three phase currents at the moments of the morning peak.
2. Active power and peak values
Log active power per phase and in total with a short enough interval to capture the morning ramp. Look at the daily maximum and at what time it occurs. This tells you whether the problem is a short peak (load management can help) or a long plateau (supply capacity question).
3. Phase imbalance
Calculate the deviation of each phase current from the average of the three. A consistently high imbalance points to redistributing the chargers over the phases.
4. Voltage
Watch phase-to-neutral voltages during the peak. A noticeable voltage drop on one phase confirms that phase is overloaded.
5. Alarms
Set a warning threshold on the phase currents below the breaker's rating, so you see the critical situation before the breaker trips.
How to decide
- High imbalance, moderate total → rebalance the phases.
- Short peaks in the morning → load management or staggered charging.
- High total load for hours → the supply capacity needs to be reviewed with your electrical engineer.
In the Forschner Turkey project, load spikes from EV charging stations were one of the things the team started tracking systematically, together with line-based load imbalance.
Reference: https://greensoft.ai/news/greensoft-...-line-diagram/