The cFos Charging Manager offers manufacturer-independent load management without ongoing costs.
Almost any size and configuration of the system is possible.
cFos Charging Manager - Load management for electric car charging
The cFos Charging Manager is aimed at operators of car parks that are to be equipped with wallboxes for charging electric cars. The aim is to provide as much charging power as possible to the individual electric cars by means of load management, taking into account the available total power - often even without having to increase the existing house connection power.
Note: We are currently experiencing an increased number of enquiries from owners' associations, apartment buildings and associated jointly used garages/parking spaces. Since it is often unclear to interested parties what the first steps in implementing a load management system look like, here is a planning aid for parking garages and a practical example of an underground garage.
The cFos Charging Manager is a manufacturer-independent system. You can use wallboxes from a wide range of manufacturers, even in mixed configurations. There is only a one-off licence fee per charging point. All software updates are free of charge.
The most important features at a glance:
- Dynamic load management taking into account consumers, such as flats, and generators, such as PV systems.
- Versatile charging rules and clever charging functions to optimise the charging infrastructure.
- Billing of charging processes.
- Simple configuration through Web UI.
- For B2C and B2B: Integration into existing systems via HTTP, MQTT, OCPP, etc.
- The cFos Charging Manager is constantly being further developed in order to leave nothing to be desired, even with complex systems.
Try the cFos Charging Manager for free now!
Download cFos Charging Manager - Version 0.0
Questions and Answers regarding cFos Power Brain Wallbox, cFos Power Brain Controller and cFos Charging Manager
download cFos Charging Manager App
Scenarios
Single family house with solar system
Wallboxes, cFos Charging Manager, intermediate meter for measuring house consumption, meter for measuring wallbox consumption
A 22kW wallbox and instantaneous water heater would overbook the existing house connection power. Thanks to load management, the charging power for the car is reduced when someone is showering or cooking. With 2 wallboxes, the charging power is distributed to both cars. Solar power is used to charge the cars during the day.
Garage 50 parking spaces
with wallboxes and central transformer meter in an apartment building.
For charging authorisation, RFID readers are installed at several locations in the garage and communicate with the cFos Charging Manager.
Billing and Authentication
OCPP wallboxes and many other wallboxes have built-in electricity meters that the cFos Charging Manager can read and provide the consumed kilowatt hours for billing. With simpler wallboxes, you can install your own meter and connect it to the Charging Manager. The cFos Charging Manager prepares the billing data in a clear transaction log. The cFos Charging Manager speaks OCPP so that you can also transmit the billing data to an external billing backend.
OCPP wallboxes typically have an RFID reader for authentication. Many other models also have their own RFID reader. For wallboxes without an RFID reader, you can also connect the Charging Manager to an external (central) RFID card reader or control the charging release via our web interface or the app. Mixed operation of wallboxes with and without RFID readers is also possible.
Control of charging power
The cFos Charging Manager uses load management to try to distribute the maximum connected load installed in the building as well as possible among the electric cars to be charged. In doing so, it can take into account the power of other consumers such as heat pumps, ventilation systems, etc.. It can also take into account the generation power of solar systems and, if necessary, read out the inverters themselves.
To record consumption (and generation), the cFos Charging Manager supports a variety of common meters and inverters. You can also define your own meters or transmit measured values via HTTP API.
You can assign different priorities to the individual wallboxes. The available charging power is first distributed to the wallboxes with higher priority and the remaining power is then distributed to the wallboxes with lower priority. This allows you to quickly recharge emergency vehicles, for example, while long-parked users are "refuelled" over the night.
For single-phase or two-phase charging vehicles, the cFos Charging Manager monitors the phase symmetry and, if necessary, regulates individual cars down in accordance with VDE-AR-N 4100.
Loading rules
If special requirements apply that deviate from the normal load management of the Charging Manager, you can configure charging rules per user and per wallbox that determine the charging power according to certain criteria. This allows you, for example, to configure certain times at which charging is to take place with certain current or to configure solar surplus charging.
In addition, the charging power can be changed depending on a switching input (or other conditions), for example if the energy supplier signals certain tariffs as a result.
What you need for a charging infrastructure
- Wallboxes and cabling (LAN, WLAN and/or Modbus)
- 1 x Charging Manager Kit in top-hat rail housing for installation in a control cabinet or a Windows PC
- Modbus-capable intermediate meter
- possibly Modbus adapter (Modbus RTU, RS485 adapter)
- optional additional RFID readers
It is recommended that the cFos Charging Manager is connected to the internet and accessible from "outside" for maintenance purposes.
cFos Charging Manager prices
- Licence per charging point: From €109 (excl. VAT) or €129.71 (incl. 19% VAT)
Detailed price list for the cFos Charging Manager and hardware kits
System requirements
- Windows 10 or Raspberry Pi 3 or 4.
- Recommended: Internet connection for automatic time setting, software updates and access for remote maintenance. If there is no landline connection, you can also use an LTE router with SIM card.
Details for the network operator
| Manufacturer / Type | cFos eMobility / cFos Power Brain 11kW (22kW) or other manufacturer |
| Number of charging points | Depending on how many EVSEs you use - one charging point per EVSE |
| Number of identical charging devices | Depending on how many EVSEs you use |
| Max. grid demand power in kVA | 11 kVA or 22kVA |
| Max. grid feed-in power in kVA | 0 kVA |
| Control range of charging power kVA to kVA | 6 kVA - 22kVA |
| Active power controllable (yes / no) | Yes |
| Type of charge (AC or DC) | AC |
| Alternating current or three-phase current | AC for 1-phase connection, three-phase for 3-phase connection (controlled by the car's charging equipment) |
