Smarter Charging with NexBlue
When an EV charge point is installed in a property, it quickly becomes the single largest consumer of electricity on that supply. That makes one thing very clear, that managing power safely and intelligently is critical.
At NexBlue, we’ve built advanced load balancing technologies that are there to protect your property and to ensure your charging experience is safe, reliable, and efficient, no matter the environment.
Why Load Balancing Matters
Every property, whether residential, commercial, or industrial, has an existing demand on its electricity supply. Lights, heating systems, lifts, machinery; all of these consume power, often across different phases and often unevenly. Unlike most appliances, the power drawn by an EV charge point can be dynamically adjusted. This makes it the perfect candidate for balancing a site’s total load.
Without load balancing, plugging in an EV could overload the supply, trip fuses, or create unsafe conditions. With it, charging adapts automatically to what’s available, ensuring both safety and efficiency.
The Traditional Approach
Historically, many manufacturers have relied on physical current clamps connected between a charger and a building’s distribution board. These clamps monitor the supply across phases and communicate property usage back to the EV charge point. The charger then reduces or increases its output based on the available capacity.
This works, but it has limitations in flexibility, scalability, and connectivity. In commercial settings, the distance between a charger and the distribution board can be very long, with the cable also potentially needing to be ran at height, not ideal.
NexBlue’s Connected Load Balancing
With the NexBlue Zen, our load balancer, we can do some clever things when it comes to site management. Installed in the distribution board, the Zen continuously measures live power consumption to the property using CT clamps, and shares this data with your NexBlue charge points.
From there, two powerful approaches are available:
1. Cloud Load Balancing
Zen transmits usage data securely to the NexBlue Cloud, via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. Your charge points then receive instructions, through Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or 4G, on how much power they can safely draw. This setup ensures that all devices across the site operate harmoniously, even when multiple charge points are in use.
2. Local Load Balancing
For situations where internet connectivity may be unstable or difficult to obtain, NexBlue also offers local load balancing. The Zen and charge points can communicate with each other directly over the local Wi-Fi network using UDP (User Datagram Protocol). The products do not need to be on the same router, if the the site is very large, just the same high-level network.
If a local network connection is not possible, then the units can also communicate with each other via RF (radio frequency) up to 100m in open air. In certain regions, hard wired CT clamps are the preferred option for load management in Domestic properties. These do not require any means of wireless communication to work, and can operate offline.
That means if the internet goes down or if you have connectivity limitation, your charge points will keep working as expected. They continue to share information, calculate available power, and balance load, all automatically.
Phase Balancing: The Next Evolution
As part of our Be Current. Always Future vision, NexBlue is taking load management further with advanced phase balancing.
In many large buildings, demand is spread unevenly across electrical phases. For example, lighting and lifts may draw heavily on one phase, while machinery may dominate another. Traditionally, this imbalance meant one phase could be overloaded, while others were underutilised.
With NexBlue’s phase balancing technology, through Nexus™️ , we know how much power is being drawn on each phase. The system can then dynamically shift charging load between phases, ensuring that demand is spread evenly. This means:
- Avoiding overloading of a single phase.
- Maximising the available capacity of the building’s supply.
- Allowing EVs to charge at higher, steadier speeds. For example, maintaining a 7kW charge, without compromising safety.
By intelligently balancing phases, NexBlue not only protects the building’s electrical system, but also increases overall efficiency for every connected vehicle.
Balancing Between Charge Points
While dynamic load balancing ensures that the total power drawn by all charge points never exceeds the property’s capacity, NexBlue goes a step further. Our system also balances power intelligently between the charge points themselves, this happens even when our Zen hasn't been installed.
When multiple vehicles are plugged in, charging demand can fluctuate. Without intelligent distribution, the first vehicle to connect could take the bulk of available power, leaving later arrivals with slower charging speeds. Our balancing system prevents this by automatically optimising how power is shared across all connected vehicles. This ensures that every driver enjoys a fair and positive charging experience, no matter when they plug in.
What makes this even more powerful is the integration with our advanced phase balancing. By monitoring each phase and dynamically shifting load as required, the system not only prevents overload but also makes full use of the property’s supply. The result is smooth, efficient, and equitable charging across multiple vehicles and phases.
Built in Redundancy for Real World Reliability
Connectivity is the backbone of load balancing, but we know networks can fail. That’s why NexBlue has designed a system with multiple layers of redundancy with intelligent phase balancing. Whether in a busy commercial building, a new housing development, or a remote site with limited connectivity, our charge points stay connected to each other and keep balancing.
Why This Matters for Customers
- Safety First – Prevents overloading and keeps the property’s electrical system protected.
- Efficiency – Optimises EV charging speed based on real time availability.
- Scalability – Supports single installations or sites with dozens of charge points.
- Resilience – Works even when internet connectivity is down.
- Future Ready – Phase balancing maximises building capacity and supports smarter charging as demand grows.