Depending on product specifications, some will perform better than others. Climate conditions should be considered when choosing a product for a site, especially outdoor installations. Charger size selection should consider the climate. Additional loads drawn by battery management systems for maintaining optimal battery temperature will reduce the apparent charging speed.

Smart chargers and even electric vehicles come with a smartphone app. These apps will notify the driver when their preset charge limit (or default charge setting) is reached.

One of the benefits of smartchargers is the communication between charger, vehicle, fleet management, and driver. EVSE management software can incorporate “idle fees” where a driver may be incurring higher fees once a charging session is complete and vehicle remains plugged in. Even without idle fees, drivers are notified when their vehicle’s charging limit has been reached. Employee or visitor policies can include moving a vehicle once a charging session is completed.

PowerSharing is a configuration where one electrical feed powers more than one charger port/parking space. For example, when one vehicle is plugged in, the entire electrical load is delivered to that vehicle. When an additional vehicle plugs in to the charger string, the electrical load will split in half, delivering reduced equivalent power to both vehicles. Considerations need to be carefully assessed to ensure the split load does not compromise the effectiveness of the charge times. Charger OEMs range from the ability to powershare from two, up to ten or more vehicles. This directly impacts the effectiveness for each vehicle depending on charge time needed, and climate.

Smartcharging is the combination of EVSE specialized hardware and software used in combination at all times to report and store data, monitor, control from a remote location by the station owner or managing entity. - savvycharge

Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) is the hardware that delivers energy to a vehicles onboard inverter or battery management system for the purpose or refueling an electric vehicle. - savvycharge

Kilowatt-hour (KWh) is the measure of energy consumed, delivered, or stored by the generation, delivery or utilization of electrical equipment. This is a unit of power multiplied by the time it used that power for. An example is a 1,000watt (1kW) oven used for three hours will use 1000w x 3hrs = 3kWh of energy.

Cable Management System (CMS) is a standard or add-on device, used in conjunction with ECVE for the intent to keep charging cables neat and protected. Some configurations keep cables off the ground, even during charging sessions. Options can include self-retracting or coiling depending on available configurations for each product.

J1772 (SAE J1772) represents the standard configuration for a common non-Tesla Level 2 charger port configuration.

Energy Management is the ability to control, curtail, or shift energy within a system to minimize unnecessary energy consumption. This can be used in conjunction with a Building Automation System (BAS), Building Management System (BMS) or similar. A common example of energy management is daylight sensors, occupancy/vacancy sensors, and timers for adjusting light levels on premises. An Energy Management System can include a network and software for the monitoring and control from a remote location.