Impact of Electric Vehicles Charging on the Distribution Network: A case study of Utrecht Science Park

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) have a high potential in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and are able to achieve other advantages such as a reduction in local air emissions and increasing energy security. As a result, EVs are rapidly increasing in popularity, electrifying the transportation sector. This poses a serious problem for the grid as existing distribution grids were mainly sized in the pre-EV era. Therefore, they were often not designed to operate under increasing loads due to the charging of EVs. In this thesis, a method is proposed to determine the load of future EV fleets. The study is empirical in nature and is based on analysing real transaction data of 42 EVs charging for over a year at Utrecht Science Park (USP), the considered case study. The transaction data allows for an examination of the potential impacts of future EV fleets. The impact of the future load of EV fleets on distribution transformers is evaluated. The results show that the studied transformers are able to accommodate EV penetration for the 2030 scenario. In 2050 however, 4 out of 7 studied transformers are overloaded. This is followed by an analysis on the mitigation of the determined impact. This analysis indicated the flexibility in EV demand, around 50% of the EV demand can be delayed for more than 8 hours. When optimal use is made of this flexibility, overloading of 3 out of 4 transformers could be mitigated.