Impact Analysis of Level 2 EV Chargers on Residential Power Distribution Grids

Abstract

Large scale Electric Vehicles (EV) penetration is coming with a stupendous energy demand that raises much concerns in the power sector. The impact of this demand is mostly notable at the distribution side as an outcome of EV users home charging preferences. Currently, most EVs charge their batteries through level 1 charger at home. However, the shorter charging times and the declining prices of level 2 chargers favor a switch from level 1 into level 2 chargers at residential premises. As a ramification, this will cause a lamentable peak in the residential load profile, and consequently power utilities will face the impact of elevated number of level 2 chargers with uncontrolled EV charging. To foresee these consequences, using the IEEE-33 Bus radial distribution system, we build a discrete event simulator and present real-life assessment of different EV penetration rates with various level 2 charger adoption rates. We expose that 50% EV penetration along with 50% level 2 chargers deployment may create an undesirable situation on the distribution network. Furthermore, we simulate EV users' charging behavior over different pricing techniques. The collected results show that available pricing techniques cannot maintain the voltage level over minimum desired threshold especially during peak times.