An Ecosystem Blueprint for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Fed by a Hybrid Microgrid – A Case Study

Abstract

In recent past, Electric Vehicles have become on par in terms of performance, if not exceeded their internal combustion engine counterparts. Though EVs have long been regarded as a game-changer in India’s automotive industry, a proper charging infrastructure is critical for the proliferation of EVs alongside the integration of renewable energy sources into the grid to develop a low-carbon society. This combination of uncertainty revolving around EV charging operations and the presence of decentralised small-scale renewable energy sources add complexity to the energy management process and the establishment of fair pricing at the grid level. In this paper, an ecosystem blueprint for an EV charging station has been proposed, which includes a dynamic pricing model for charging Electric Vehicles in any office or college space which acts as a hybrid microgrid with renewable energy sources. This work has been validated for NIT Trichy as a case study and solar PV is taken as the main renewable resource. However, the proposed model can accommodate the future addition of any renewable source and can formulate the prices accordingly. The proposed pricing model aims to maximise user satisfaction by keeping the charging bills low, as well as maximise the utilisation of renewable energy to lower the dependency on the grid. The blueprint also includes a comprehensive business plan to discuss its feasibility. Furthermore, the blueprint also involves building a suitable interface for EV users through a mobile application to efficiently book slots and charge their EVs and an admin dashboard supervises all the operations and helps keep an eye on the operational constraints.on the operational constraints.