Smart Charging of Electric Vehicles: Consumer Costs and Demand Reduction with Solar Power and Energy Storage
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Viteri, Christian Eduardo
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Abstract
Global efforts to reduce harmful emissions by internal combustion engines have served as motivation to electrify the transportation sector. In the United States (US), a variety of state-specific incentive programs and the increasing affordability of battery technologies have promoted the penetration of EVs in the market. Still, an increasing presence of EVs in grid networks brings the potential for significant stresses on power distribution infrastructure (voltage violations and/or transformer overloads), especially as overnight charging patterns persist. Simultaneously, the US is seeing a rise in solar photovoltaic (PV) power capacity, generating similar concerns over power/voltage quality. As a result, the rise of EVs necessitates charging strategies that minimize operation costs, maximize carbon-free energy (CFE) consumption, and minimize peak demands, while the rise of CFE generation behind electric meters has encouraged investments into battery energy storage systems (BESS) to more optimally utilize solar power. Smart charging (SC) provides an inexpensive approach to managing EV charging loads and CFE utilization in the near-term, addressing the challenges associated with rising power demands. Novel implementation of SC methods with consideration of PV and BESS behind the meter could support the promising emissions reductions offered by EVs while satisfying the needs of both consumers (e.g., EV owners, fleet owners, aggregators) and utility operators. In the proposed thesis, smart charging will be explored to quantify cost and grid impacts for i) residential homes with a single EV, BESS, and PV, ii) EV fleets that utilize CFE such as PV and BESS, and iii) an in-depth case study analyzing the electrification of public school buses and the potential to charge smart.
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2025-04-23
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