Industry jargon

Maximum demand

Maximum demand is the highest electrical load a site places on its supply over a defined period. For EV charging design, it is used to assess whether the existing electrical installation and grid connection can support the proposed charging load. Simply adding together the nameplate rating of every charger can overstate what the site will actually draw, because vehicles do not always charge simultaneously or at maximum power. Existing building demand must also be considered. Load balancing can control EV demand so the site's actual maximum stays within an acceptable limit, allowing more charge points to share the available capacity.