Case study of the effects of electric vehicle charging on grid loads in an urban area

Abstract

The number of electric vehicles (EVs) is rapidly increasing, and the upward trend seems to be continuing also in the future. The increasing number of electric vehicles causes a need to develop the charging infrastructure, and moreover, it is necessary to analyze the network effects of the simultaneous charging of numerous electric vehicles. A further interesting question is how all this affects the distribution fee paid by the electricity end-user. In this paper, the challenge is approached by an actual case example. The data used in the simulation are collected by measuring the traffic flow of the road leading to the case area. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the grid effects of large-scale electrification of transportation can be assessed and to define the needed reinforcements and effects on the distribution fee paid by the end customers. The data are processed by applying the Monte-Carlo method. The network effects and the change in the distribution fee are evaluated. The key result is that EV charging causes a substantial amount of additional load to the grid. Hence, the distribution fee may increase if the charging system is not intelligent.