Experience from a field test of smart charging at a public charging infrastructure

Abstract

Up to now, the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles could be integrated into the grids without any problems. However, with an increasing number of charging points and simultaneous charging processes, line overloading and voltage band violations can occur. The affected grids might have to be reinforced or expanded without consideration of the actual renewal strategy which causes grid planning inefficiency. To reduce or avoid any planning inefficiency we tested as an alternative to conventional grid expansion, the possibility of controlling the charging processes in a grid-serving way. The objective was to adjust the charging processes as little as possible. In order to do so, the control of charging processes must consider the actual grid conditions (network state) in the low-voltage grid by means of measuring devices. Therefore, we and our project partners run a field test to gain knowledge on these measuring and communication devices as well as the further utilization for a smart charging management. In this paper we show our way forward and point our challenges we have met. We also give an outlook of our next steps to be able to integrate charging infrastructure more efficiently.