Probabilistic Modelling of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Impacts on Distribution Networks in British Columbia

Supervisory Committee Dr. Andrew Rowe (Department of Mechanical Engineering) Supervisor Dr. Peter Wild (Department of Mechanical Engineering Co-Supervisor Dr. Curran Crawford (Department of Mechanical Engineering) Departmental Member Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) represent a promising future direction for the personal transportation sector in terms of decreasing the reliance on fossil fuels while simultaneously decreasing emissions. Energy used for driving is fully or partially shifted to electricity leading to lower emission rates, especially in a low carbon intensive generation mixture such as that of British Columbia’s. Despite the benefits of PHEVs for vehicle owners, care will need to be taken when integrating PHEVs into existing electrical grids. For example, there is a natural coincidence between peak electricity demand and the hours during which the majority of vehicles are parked at a residence after a daily commute. This research aims to investigate the incremental impacts to distribution networks in British Columbia imposed by the charging of PHEVs. A probabilistic model based on Monte Carlo Simulations is used to investigate the impacts of uncontrolled PHEV charging on three phase networks in the BC electricity system. A model simulating daily electricity demand is used to estimate the residential and commercial demand on a network. A PHEV operator model simulates the actions of drivers throughout a typical day in order to estimate the demand for vehicle charging imposed on networks. A load flow algorithm is used to solve three phase networks for voltage, current and line losses. Representative three