Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle energy system using home-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-home: Optimizaton of power converter operation

Abstract

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) are seen to be a step forward in vehicle electrification, to replace ICE based conventional vehicles. Using a PHEV implies that part of the vehicle energy comes from the grid or other sources, such as renewable energy, to charge the battery. However, renewable energy sources being intermittent sources, these new needs would only shift the problem by increasing the number of nuclear and coal power plants, and will not permit solving the problem of pollution or fossil fuel depletion. There is a need to optimize the way, in which the available resources are utilized, in order to reduce dependency on nuclear and coal power plants. This will achieve the overall goal of minimizing pollution, reducing the depletion rate of fossil fuels, as well as reduce the overall cost. This paper proposes a hybrid power system for house energy needs by utilization of renewable energy sources, grid, as well as the PHEV battery source. Emphasis of paper is on optimization of the overall cost of the system, by selecting the most cost effective and feasible option among the available options; namely, renewable energy sources, the grid and the battery of the PHEV. As a prerequisite to the implementation of this scheme, it is desirable to work out an approximate amount of available energy. For this, the efficiencies of the various power converters involved must be determined and taken into account to reduce the energy losses.