Overview of ICT in the advancement of electric vehicle penetration: Overview of vehicle grid communication system and charging infrastructure and a case study of economic and environmental benefits of electric vehicles in Nebraska

Abstract

Information and communication technology (ICT) plays a key role in our society, making management and planning easier across sectors. ICT can also help users during times of transition to promote a newer technology in an industry, such as transportation, and aid in GHG reductions by its enabling technologies. Battery electric vehicles (BEV) emit less CO2 than conventional vehicles, offering a way to lower fuel emissions. The sales of BEVs have shown a strong growth trend in the U.S., but continued use depends on effective ICT based enabling technologies to link BEVs with its environment to provide information such as real-time battery charge levels, location of nearest charging infrastructure, route options to optimize battery performance and energy price in a given area within the BEVs vehicle grid communication (VGC) infrastructure. In an effort to build BEV charging infrastructure aided by ICT enabling technologies to promote and deploy BEV, a case study is presented in which 24 BEVs and 35 Chargepoint charging stations are deployed across communities in Nebraska. Data analysis is used to gain insight into charging times, user charging habits, economic and environmental saving, information that can be used by ICT enabling technologies to optimize the user experience, smart grid operation and wide spread adoption of BEVs.