The equipment list gets approved, the order gets placed, and then the electrical contractor asks a question nobody prepared for: what is the total connected load, and how is it distributed?
At that point the answer has to be assembled backwards from a dozen specification sheets. Doing workshop electrical load planning first — while the equipment list is still a draft — costs an afternoon and saves a rewiring.
You are not planning one supply, you are planning two
The first surprise for most workshops is that a single-voltage assumption does not survive contact with the equipment list.
Paint booths run on 380 V three-phase at 50 or 60 Hz, on every documented model. Scissor lifts and the EV battery lifting platform run on 220 V single phase at 60 Hz. Two-post lifts run on either 380 V or 220 V depending on model.
So a bay that mixes a two-post lift with a scissor lift may need both distributions available at the same position — which is a cable route decision, and cable routes are decided before the floor is finished.
The numbers you are adding up
Published figures give you most of a load schedule without asking anyone. The paint booth family spans 11 to 50 kW depending on size and configuration, with 11 kW on INTECH X300 and X360 and 17 kW on INTECH X500.
The vehicle lifts family sits between 2.2 and 3 kW. A PURE 200 prep station draws 5.5 kW total, of which 4 kW is the turbine fan.
Put another way: one paint booth can outweigh five lifts and a prep station combined. Load planning that treats every machine as a comparable line item will size the incomer wrongly in both directions at once.
Connected load is not simultaneous load
Adding every nameplate figure together produces a number your workshop will never draw. A lift consumes power for the 50 seconds it rises and the 30 seconds it descends, and nothing in between.
A booth is the opposite: fans and burner run continuously through a cycle. Which is why the useful schedule has two columns — nameplate rating, and realistic duty — and why the booth dominates the second column even where it does not dominate the first.
Hand the contractor both columns. Sizing on nameplate alone buys switchgear you never use; sizing on optimistic duty alone leaves you tripping during a busy morning.
The items that get left off the schedule
Lighting is the classic omission. A prep station carries 24 LED units at 16 W each; INTECH X500 carries 32+12 units at 20 W. Individually trivial, collectively a continuous load that runs whenever the shop is open.
Custom configurations are the expensive omission. The waterborne infrared arrangement adds 30 kW across ten units on top of fan load — a figure that has to enter the schedule before the design is frozen, not after the booth is delivered.
Voltages across the equipment families
Build the load schedule from these before the shortlist:
| Equipment | Supply | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Paint booths | 380 V three-phase at 50 or 60 Hz | Every documented model |
| Scissor lifts and EV battery platform | 220 V single phase at 60 Hz | Different circuit entirely |
| Two-post lifts | 380 V or 220 V | Depends on model |
| Paint booth family power | 11–50 kW · 11 kW on INTECH X300 and X360 · 17 kW on INTECH X500 | Depends on size and configuration |
Common questions
Why does frequency appear in the specification?
Because motors are built for a frequency. The booths are documented for 50 or 60 Hz and the lifts for 60 Hz, and mismatching it changes motor speed and output rather than simply failing to work. Confirm the site frequency at the same time as the voltage.
Do I need three-phase everywhere?
No. Booths do; scissor lifts and the battery platform run on single phase. What you need is to know which bays require which, before the distribution board is populated and the conduit is cast in.
What about compressed air — is that separate?
It is a separate service, but it shares the same planning problem. Some lift models require compressed air between 0.4 and 0.6 MPa for lock release, and booths require air piping as part of the site requirements — so the two schedules are built together.
Build the schedule before the shortlist
List every intended machine, its voltage, its phase, its kW and its realistic duty. Then compare the total against your actual incoming capacity — because that capacity is one of the three questions that shortens the model list at the start.
Published figures per model are on each product page, or request a quotation with your intended equipment list and available supply.