PowerSmart is Emporia's intelligent load management feature for EV charging. It works alongside an Emporia Vue energy monitor to watch your home's total electrical usage in real time, then automatically adjusts your EV charger's output to keep you within your panel's safe capacity limits. This article covers what PowerSmart does, what hardware you need to use it, and how it differs from Peak Demand Management.
What PowerSmart Does
PowerSmart watches your home's total energy draw 3,000 times per second using your Emporia Vue Energy Monitor. When other appliances are pulling significant power, PowerSmart reduces your EV charger's output so your panel doesn't exceed its service rating. When home consumption drops, PowerSmart increases the charge rate back up toward your maximum.
The result is the fastest possible charge speed at any given moment — without requiring an electrical panel upgrade.
Load balancing: Charging speed adjusts in real time based on how much capacity your other appliances are using.
Overload prevention: PowerSmart keeps total home consumption below your panel's service rating, protecting against nuisance tripping or overloads.
Guaranteed fallback: If PowerSmart is ever unavailable, your charger falls back to a pre-set Guaranteed Charge Rate so charging continues safely.
PowerSmart works with Emporia EVSE chargers only. It does not support third-party EV chargers.
What You Need
PowerSmart requires both an Emporia EV Charger and an Emporia Vue 3 Energy Monitor installed in your electrical panel. The EV charger alone cannot run PowerSmart — it depends on the whole-home consumption data that the Vue provides.
Emporia Pro EV Charger: PowerSmart is included. The kit ships with a Vue 3 monitor, two 200A current transformers, a Wi-Fi antenna assembly, and a wire harness.
Emporia Classic EV Charger: PowerSmart is available as a paid add-on (see pricing below).
PowerSmart upgrade pricing (Classic charger):
$125 — PowerSmart feature only, if you already have an Emporia Vue energy monitor installed.
$200 — PowerSmart feature plus an Emporia Vue Energy Monitor, if you don't have one yet.
To enable PowerSmart on your Classic charger, please contact our Customer Support team.
PowerSmart vs. Peak Demand Management
Emporia offers a separate feature called Peak Demand Management. The two solve different problems and can run together without conflict:
PowerSmart prevents your panel from exceeding its safe capacity. This is a safety and electrical-code concern — it keeps your home from overloading.
Peak Demand Management helps you avoid utility peak-rate charges. This is a cost concern — it keeps your electricity bill down.
For a side-by-side comparison and guidance on which is right for your situation, see PowerSmart vs Peak Demand Management.
Ready to Set It Up?
PowerSmart is configured in the Emporia Energy app once your hardware is installed and online. Setup requires two values that a licensed electrician should determine for you: Service Rating and Guaranteed Charge Rate. For full step-by-step setup instructions and a breakdown of what each value means, see PowerSmart Settings and Configuration.
Certifications & Compliance
PowerSmart's two hardware components are independently UL-certified and meet NEC requirements for load management.
Emporia EV Charger (EMEVSE1 / EMEVSE1-B)
UL 2594, UL 2251, UL 991, UL 817
SAE J1772, SAE J3400 (NACS)
NEC 625
EMC: FCC, ISED · Efficiency: Energy Star
UL Certificate: UL-US-2208966-9 (US) / UL-CA-2208635-8 (Canada)
Emporia Vue 3 Energy Monitor (EMV3A)
UL 61010, UL 2808 (E535044)
EMC: FCC, ISED, CE, PSE, UKCA
UL Certificate: 2023-07-22-E535044
Feedback and Suggestions
This knowledge base is continuously updated to provide the most helpful guidance for Emporia customers. If you found this article unclear or have suggestions for improvement, please contact our Customer Support team.