Achieving reliable coordination of residential plug-in electric vehicle charging: A pilot study. (May 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Alexeenko, Polina; Bitar, Eilyan
• Is Part Of: Transportation research. Volume 118(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-05
• Subjects: Smart grid -- Managed electric vehicle charging -- Demand-side management -- Distributed energy resources; Transportation -- Research -- Periodicals; Transportation -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; 354.76
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trd.2023.103658
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1361-9209

Abstract

Abstract: We report findings from a real-world pilot study exploring a novel pricing and control mechanism to coordinate residential EV charging loads. The proposed pricing mechanism presents EV owners with a "menu of deadlines" that offers lower electricity prices the longer they are willing to delay their charging completion times. Given customers' reported charging preferences, a smart charging system dynamically optimizes the power drawn by EVs in real-time to minimize their collective strain on the grid while ensuring all EVs are charged by their user-requested deadlines. We find that customers allow their charging to be delayed by over eight hours on average. Using this flexibility, the smart charging system reliably eliminates demand spikes by reshaping EV loads to flatten the aggregate load curve. Importantly, customer participation rates remained stable throughout the study, providing evidence that the proposed mechanism is a viable "non-wires alternative" to meet the growing demand for electricity from EVs. Highlights: Findings presented from a real-world utility-run managed EV charging pilot. Pilot spanned 17 months and involved 34 residential customers in Upstate New York. Drivers responded to incentives to delay the time required to charge their EVs. Drivers often engaged in managed charging and delayed charging by an average of 8 h. The novel incentive/control mechanism consistently shifted EV loads off peak.