A Blockchain-Supported Framework for Charging Management of Electric Vehicles

Marina Dorokhova,Jérémie Vianin,Christophe Ballif,Nicolas Wyrsch,Jean-Marie Alder,David Wannier

doi:10.3390/en14217144

Marina Dorokhova, Jérémie Vianin + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/en14217144

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Abstract

Profound changes driven by decarbonization, decentralization, and digitalization are disrupting the energy industry, bringing new challenges to its key stakeholders. In the attempt to address the climate change issue, increasing penetration of renewables and mobility electrification augment the complexity of the electric grid, thus calling for new management approaches to govern energy exchanges while ensuring reliable and secure operations. The emerging blockchain technology is regarded as one of the most promising solutions to respond to the matter in a decentralized, efficient, fast, and secure way. In this work, we propose an Ethereum-based charging management framework for electric vehicles (EVs), tightly interlinked with physical and software infrastructure and implemented in a real-world demonstration site. With a specifically designed solidity-based smart contract governing the charging process, the proposed framework enables secure and reliable accounting of energy exchanges in a network of trustless peers, thus facilitating the EVs’ deployment and encouraging the adoption of blockchain technology for everyday tasks such as EV charging through private and semi-private charging infrastructure. The results of a multi-actor implementation case study in Switzerland demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed blockchain framework and highlight its potential to reduce costs in a typical EV charging business model. Moreover, the study shows that the suggested framework can speed up the charging and billing processes for EV users, simplify the access to energy markets for charging station owners, and facilitate the interaction between the two through specifically designed mobile and web applications. The implementation presented in this paper can be used as a guideline for future blockchain applications for EV charging and other smart grid projects.

Highlights

IntroductionProfound changes are disrupting the energy industry, bringing new challenges for utilities, system operators, users, and governments around the world
To validate the proposed blockchain system architecture and demonstrate its application to the use case of electric vehicles (EVs) charging, we recreate the process flow depicted in Figure 5 in a real-world case study
We have proposed a blockchain-supported EV charging management framework that aids the participating parties in monitoring and controlling the charging process while ensuring the correct accounting of the energy flows in a trustless ecosystem

Summary

Introduction

Profound changes are disrupting the energy industry, bringing new challenges for utilities, system operators, users, and governments around the world. The three Ds, namely decarbonization, decentralization, and digitalization, are the main drivers of a disruptive transformation in the energy sector [1]. International and national policies facilitate decarbonization by imposing ambitious targets on emissions reduction to address climate change. The widespread adoption of renewables and improvements in energy efficiency related to power generation, transport, and usage contribute to shifting away from fossil fuels. The transportation sector accounts for 27% of global greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, 72% of which are devoted to road transport [2]. A shift toward electric mobility is regarded as an effective way to reduce local pollution and alleviate the current energy crisis

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