Impact of Electric Vehicle Chargers on a Low Voltage Distribution System

The desire to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases has led to an increasing interest in the use of Electric Vehicles (EVs), whether all electric or plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). New Zealand is ideally suited for the uptake of EVs since most of the electricity generation is from renewable resources. The main barriers from a customer perspective to the uptake of electric vehicles are; price, lack of charging infrastructure and range anxiety. From an electrical utility perspective there are questions regarding the potential impact to the network of wide spread adoption of EVs. To identify these potential issues simulation studies are required. To enable simulation studies to be performed accurate data is required. This paper presents the measurement results obtained for different charger technologies and different cars. These were obtained at New Zealand’s first public EV charging station in Whangarei. This data, along with realistic low voltage (LV) distribution feeder data, is then used to perform studies on different LV networks to identify the penetration level of EV chargers that a typical system can withstand without adverse effects. Presenters: Neville Watson and Jeremy Watson EEA Conference & Exhibition 2015, June 2015, Wellington