Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Smart Grid: Investigations Based on a Micro- Simulation

Introduction of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) could potentially trigger a stepwise electrification of the whole transportation sector. But the impact on the electric grid by electrical vehicle charging is still not fully known. This paper investigates several PHEV charging schemes, including smart charging, using a novel iterative approach. An agent based traffic demand model is used for modeling the electrical demand of PHEVs over the day. For modeling the different parts of the electric grid, an approach based on interconnected multiple energy carrier systems is used. For a given charging scheme the power system simulation gives back a price signal indicating whether grid constraints, such as maximum power output at hub transformators, have been violated. This leads to a corrective step in the iterative process, until a charging pattern is found, which does not violate grid constraints. The proposed system allows to investigate existing electric grids, whether they are capable of meeting increased electricity demand by certain future PHEV penetration. Furthermore, in the future, different types of smart charging schemes can be added into the system for comparison.