Investigating the Impact of Electricity Rationing on Rural EV Charging

Abstract

The Electricity Supply Emergency Code (ESEC) outlines the process for electricity rationing via a range of scenarios (Levels 1 to 18), should a critical supply incident affect a specific region, or the whole of the UK. Given recent global events, the threat of its implementation is currently attracting large mainstream media attention and genuine concern. With the uptake of Electric Vehicles (EVs) increasing, motorists are ever more reliant on a resilient electrical grid in order to charge their vehicles. This paper is the first of its kind to consider the impact on the ability to charge EVs should the ESEC specifically be invoked. This paper also focuses on rural areas, in particular a small rural village in the UK, Bradbourne, located in the Peak District. For which a novel EV Charging Model has been designed to incorporate the patterns of various levels of disconnections as laid out in the ESEC. Additionally, two behavioural approaches to charging within a planned power outage have been modelled. Real concerns arise in the eventuality of the higher level scenarios being implemented, with almost 30% of modelled EVs unable to complete their planned journeys. Although peaks of grid demand are reduced, results in fact show very little energy reductions overall depending on the charging behaviour, thus rendering the efforts of the ESEC mute.