A Study on the Charging of Electric Vehicles On a Prototypical Residential Feeder

Abstract

Due to recent concerns regarding energy conservation and dependence on fossil fuels, the efficient integration of electric vehicle populations’ in the future smart grid has become a significant area of research. Despite the heavy penetration of smart meters throughout North America and Europe a lack of research exists utilizing real consumption data.

Making use of smart meter data, a model of a prototypical residential feeder was created to observe the effects of increased electric vehicle penetration on the selected feeder. Simulations of the current operation of the feeder were performed along with modeled uncoordinated, coordinated, and coordinated vehicle to grid charging of electric vehicles.

As expected, it was found that the normal operation of the feeder is subject to several inefficiencies which are made worse by uncoordinated charging of electric vehicles. Significant improvements in the considered operational parameters were found as a result of the coordinated charging of vehicles using a quadratic programming based control algorithm. Further it was found, that the use of coordinated vehicle to grid connections only produces marginal benefits over standard connections. Leading to the conclusion that development of charging controls is more significant to the mitigation of electric vehicle charging effects than the integration of vehicle to grid connections.