As electric mobility accelerates worldwide, designing efficient and scalable charging infrastructure has become a critical challenge for engineers and integrators. Compliant design, grid constraints, and fast workflows must align seamlessly to keep pace with demand.
In this Q&A, we hear from Giulia Giuffredi, Market Development Manager for the EVCI segment, and Chandra Shekar, Product Owner for the Application Configurator tool at ABB Electrification. They share insights on the evolution of e-mobility infrastructure and how ABB enables customers to succeed in this fast-changing landscape.
How can EV charging infrastructure keep pace with e-mobility growth?
Giulia: Electric mobility is accelerating worldwide, driven by climate policies, technological advances, and growing consumer demand. By 2030, global EV electricity demand will increase by 830 TWh. This shift is more than a change in vehicles—it's a transformation of how energy is generated, distributed, and consumed. As adoption scales, new opportunities emerge for innovation across transportation and energy ecosystems.
What impact does EV growth have on the power grid?
Giulia: Rising EV adoption is reshaping energy demand patterns. As more vehicles convert to electric power, the need for electricity—particularly for high-capacity DC fast charging—is increasing and creating peak loads. However, these peaks vary by location and time. Designing systems to handle rare peak events can be costly and inefficient. Smart planning and load management are essential to maintain grid stability while optimizing infrastructure investment.
How does the Application Configurator speed up the selection of EV charging electrical infrastructure?
Chandra: Manually navigating countless datasheets and catalogs is slow and frustrating, especially when you know what you need but struggle to identify the right components from thousands of options. With ABB's Application Configurator, you can generate a complete bill of materials in minutes instead of hours. Through a guided selection process, the tool reduces complexity, minimizes errors, and eliminates the need to flip through different catalogs. The configurator automatically recommends the optimal configuration based on charger system specifications, considering ABB's full product portfolio and ensuring full selectivity and backup protection—from charger circuit breaker all the way to main distribution boards. The entire workflow is streamlined with no guesswork required.
How does guided selection work in Application Configurator?
Chandra: Application Configurator simplifies configuration through four simple steps. You provide key inputs such as application type, end use, system voltage, charger ratings, and load management needs. The configurator automatically filters out irrelevant or incompatible products. Based on ABB's built-in expertise, standards, and tested combinations, it then recommends the most suitable circuit breakers, residual current devices, surge protection devices, accessories, protection levels, and communication options. It checks critical technical aspects like selectivity, short-circuit ratings, load management compatibility, and coordination between products to reduce errors and ensure a reliable, flexible, and safe charging system. You can still adjust quantities, swap components, or add accessories at any time, and the configurator updates recommendations instantly. The result is a complete, validated bill of materials tailored to your project.
How much does Application Configurator cost?
Chandra: Application Configurator is free for anyone to use—whether you're an existing ABB customer or new to ABB solutions. Simply create an account, input your project details, and start configuring immediately. No prior ABB relationship is required and there is no cost.
Giulia Giuffredi is a Market Development Manager at ABB Electrification, where she focuses on business strategy and innovation in the E-mobility Infrastructure and Microgrids sectors.
Chandra Shekar is the Product Owner for the Application Configurator at ABB Electrification. With his expertise in customer application engineering, he ensures seamless user experiences and efficient application configuration.
