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Once you have your charger in-hand, you’ll need a qualified licensed electrician to perform the installation. It is recommended that you get quotes from two or more electrical contractor companies. COIL or Qmerit are great resource to find trusted, certified electricians in your area already familiar with Wallbox branded EV charger installations. Depending on the desired location of the charger, a site work contractor may be needed if ground trenching or a concrete pad to mount a charger pedestal is required. Often, electricians partner with site work contractors and can include those services in their quotation. If not, be sure to ask the electrician if they can provide a site work contractor reference.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Installation of high-voltage equipment such as level 2 EV chargers often require permits to be pulled. Typically, it is the responsibility of the electrical contractor to understand the local jurisdiction permitting requirements and to pull the necessary permits. Be sure the proper permits are obtained in order to comply with safety, warranty, and insurance requirements.
There are several considerations when it comes to the electrical service used for EV charging, particularly if more than one charger is installed. Prior to the installation, the size (measured in amperage) and load (usage) of the service should first be determined. This information is necessary to understand whether one or more Wallbox chargers can be installed using the existing electrical service. There are a number of online tools (example 1, example 2) available that can help calculate the service size needed. The examples are residential calculators, but the methodology is the same for commercial applications. Your electrician will also be able to help determine if your current service will handle the number of chargers being installed. In general, the service will need to handle the typical property load plus the output capacity of the charger (ie: 40 amps). The total cannot exceed 80% of the rated main service (ie: 160 amps for a 200 amp service). In addition, the service panel must have the needed space for the circuit breaker(s) (ie: 50 amp) used for the charger(s). If either of these factors are deficient, upgraded service may be required. Before considering upgrading the service, see the next Special Wallbox Power Sharing Features section.
The Wallbox Pulsar Plus includes some very useful, cost saving features, particularly when it comes to power management. These features allow the charger(s) to be installed without needing the expensive service upgrades mentioned in the previous section. There are two power sharing features that enable this: one is called Power Sharing, the other is called Dynamic Power Sharing. Both require special communication cabling (Cat 5e) between each of the chargers and in the case of Dynamic Power Sharing, back to the service panel. The downside to power sharing is that, although more than one vehicle can charge at the same time, it will be at reduced energy output, thus charging will take longer.
Dynamic Load Balancing
Dynamic Load Balancing allows the power output of one charger to be controlled based on the total energy use of the building. The charger will communicate with a Wallbox energy meter back at the service panel and dynamically adjust the power output to ensure the nominal load of the building is never exceeded. Here is a link to the Wallbox Power Meter Installation Guide that your electrician will need. Once the charger is wired up for dynamic load balancing and the units are connected to the Internet, they will need to be configured using the Wallbox app. Here are the instructions for configuring Dynamic Load Balancing.
AmpedUp! Networks offers Power Sharing Pre-Configuration Services whereby the Pulsar Plus chargers will be configured for power sharing specific to your electrical service situation prior to shipment. This relieves your electrician from needing to learn how to configure chargers for power sharing saving time and expense. Please ask about this service when ordering your chargers.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Even though the power sharing features may not initially be used, it is highly recommended that the charger(s) be wired to accommodate it for future use. In addition, it is required by electrical code that the communication cabling be separated from the high-voltage wire. Due to this, the electrician will need to install separate conduit, specifically for the data cable, between the service panel and/or between the chargers.
In some cases, WiFi connectivity, which the Wallbox Pulsar Plus requires for Internet connectivity, may not be available where the charger is installed. If this is the case, for a one-time cost and monthly cellular service fee, a cellular/WiFi router (IG-4GLTEWIFI-01) can be incorporated. AmpedUp! Networks can advise on the proper equipment and setup of this device. Please contact us for more information.
Positioning the charger close to the service panel is important to the efficiency of the overall power output to the vehicle. In general, the longer the wire run to electrical equipment, the more voltage drop (friction) will occur. For example, a 240v circuit may drop to 232v with a 100ft run. This will result in a slower charging session. In addition, that energy loss can be costly over time as you’ll still need to pay the utility company for the energy that is not added to the vehicle. In addition, the shorter the run, the less costly the trenching, conduit, and wiring will be.
The second consideration to charger location is placing it in a spot that is optimal for the most convenient and accessible charging. For example, it makes sense to place the charger between two parking spots opposed to the middle of one spot. It also makes sense to position the unit where the cable/plug can reach the most parking spots.