Comparative techno-economic assessment of electric vehicle charging preferences: A quantitative study for sustainable EV policy in Pakistan

Abstract

Sustainable induction of Electric vehicles (EV) adoption in developing countries requires a comprehensive policy and planning. Among several challenges, one of the biggest challenges is a sustainable charging station infrastructure integration to the existing weak distribution power network. Based on technological advancements, EV owners enjoy better milage in one charge. This has given a liberty to charge EVs as per the desire of user. There are two kinds of charging preferences, one is home charging and the other is fast charging. Both charging choices have distinct economic and technical aspects that need to be quantified in line with the available power infrastructure so as to develop a policy regulation. This study aims to quantitatively assess home charging, level 3 fast charging and their techno-economic aspects using social demographics of car owners. To analyze the demographics of local vehicle mobility practices in Pakistan, a comprehensive survey comprising online questionnaire was conducted. >100 car owners were surveyed about their daily driving practices to understand the driving distances and their preference of charging vehicles. The driving owners from distinct occupations ranging from cab drivers, job holders and businessmen participated in the survey. The survey facilitated to identify the demographics of the car owners which helped in conducting simulations and quantification analysis. Monte Carlo simulation was used for 1000 cars samples to estimate the level 1 and level 3 charging profiles in Python. In second step, HOMER Grid software was used to economically assess the impact of home charging and fast charging. It was revealed that charging choices have significant impact on the daily load profile of EVs. While having home charging, 59.9 % higher units are purchased from the grid. Whereas 65.5 NPC is increased for the project. On the other hand, the daily profile of preferred home charging is 61.4 % higher compared to the fast charging due to much concentrated charging impact during the limited time of the day. Results highlighted that Solar PV plays an important role for fast and home charging. Without solar PV charging stations will consume 60 % more grid units and 58 % higher Net present cost. The study concludes with a set of policy recommendations that must be taken into account to support the weak grid and lessen the EV charging impact on main utility.