Long-term test of an electric vehicle charged from a photovoltaic carport

Arkadiusz Małek,Rodolfo Taccani

doi:10.14669/am.vol86.art4

Arkadiusz Małek, Rodolfo Taccani

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.14669/am.vol86.art4

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Abstract

The article includes experimental investigations of electricity consumption over a distance of 30,000 km by a small city electric vehicle. During that time period, the vehicle was charged in most cases from a photovoltaic carport with a peak power of 3 kWp. The analyses include vehicle mileage and the number of times the battery has been charged during 5 years of operation. In addition, the amount of energy generated by the photovoltaic carport was also measured. During the entire research period, the small electric vehicle was charged with State of Charge (SoC) 50% almost 900 times. Then, an analysis was performed to determine the adequacy of the carport peak power selection for the energy needs of the electric vehicle. Based on an analysis of the amount of electricity produced by the carport during the season of use of the electric vehicle, it may be concluded that the average production of electricity in the selected period is about 2 times higher than that required to fully charge the electric vehicle (100% of SoC). Therefore, when designing the carport, the power required to charge the electric vehicle was correctly forecast.

Highlights

Electric vehicles are characterized by zero emissions of harmful substances to the atmosphere at the place of use
The optimal way to counteract smog is to use zero-emission electric vehicles charged with electricity from Renewable Energy Sources [5], [7], [21]
The higher costs of buying battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) vehicles are being offset by government subsidies in some countries

Summary

Introduction

Electric vehicles are characterized by zero emissions of harmful substances to the atmosphere at the place of use. In relation to electric vehicles, people often complain that they are not as ecologically as they appear because very often the electricity used to charge them originates from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal or natural gas [15], [16] In this case, exhaust emissions are merely relocated from the place of use of the vehicle to the location of electricity production [4]. The higher costs of buying BEV and HEV vehicles are being offset by government subsidies in some countries This type of support may contribute to a large increase in the number of green vehicles sold. Many entities such as hotels, banks and shopping centres offer free battery charging for their customers This is due to another current trend related to promoting the pro-ecological image of the institution or company as a result of supporting electric vehicles [8]. The key challenge would be the selection of the appropriate peak power of the photovoltaic system to match the energy capacity of the traction batteries of the vehicles

Research object – Renault Twizy

Research object – 3 kWp photovoltaic carport

Findings

Conclusions