Optimal Charging Infrastructure Portfolio for Minimizing Grid Impact of Plug-In Electric Vehicles

Abstract

Charging infrastructure (CI) is crucial for the widespread adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). The optimal portfolio of CI is beneficial for PEV owners, power systems, and policymakers. Therefore, an optimal CI portfolio estimation method is proposed to minimize the grid impacts of PEVs. All possible CI types (residential, workplace, public, and commercial) along with the three commonly used charging levels are considered and seven PEV charging profiles are estimated. Then, an optimization model is developed to determine the optimal portfolio of CI. An index is proposed to compare the performance of the proposed method with other CI portfolios. Various cases are simulated to analyze the performance under diverse conditions such as the presence of renewables and specific policy scenarios. The proposed method can be used by policymakers for making new policies, in new PEV markets, and to incentivize the use of specific CI types, in mature/developing markets.