Notes for EV charging network for India
Quotes
Back in 2013, when the EV market was significantly smaller than it is now, UK transmission network National Grid’s power demand manager Lauren Moody warned of the implications of not properly managing EVs’ added demand on power grids.
“The stakes are huge,” Moody wrote in a National Grid editorial. “If price incentives can’t influence how people charge their EVs, then by 2035 we could be looking at a peak demand increase by 30% from 67GW to 86GW [in the UK].”
Chris Nelder of US-based energy-efficiency research group the Rocky Mountain Institute further outlined the risks for grids caught unawares by the EV switch. “If utilities and their regulators are not prepared for such a rapid expansion of the EV fleet, it could have negative effects on the grid,”
“The bottom line is that the electric utility industry needs the electrification of the transportation sector to remain viable and sustainable in the long-term. Edison Electric Institute in a June 2014
Unique case of Japan
Japan with less than 35,000 petrol stations overtaken by more than 40,000 charge points.
This number admittedly includes private chargers installed in home garages, but it still demonstrates Japan’s commitment to overcoming the key issue with EVs — namely, insufficient charging infrastructure leaving drivers feeling tethered to their home charge points — and makes it a good case study for EV grid integration.
Japanese power companies have reported few problems managing the extra demand of the country’s growing plug-in electric fleet, which numbered around 150,000 vehicles as of March. Although the number of EVs currently deployed doesn’t amount to a true test of any nation’s grid infrastructure, Japan has made the right investments to help manage future growth.
The subsequent electricity supply shortages and reliance on expensive fossil fuel imports has forced resource-poor Japan to remould its energy system, investing heavily in smart grid technology and policies supporting a much higher level of demand-side management (DSM) to balance energy supply and carry out targeted blackouts when shortages occur.
Forward-thinking utilities are beginning to offer financial incentives for EV users to charge their vehicles during off-peak overnight hours, and advanced EV charging hubs are integrating local solar power, energy storage and dynamic pricing to manage EV demand on the grid.
In the US, utility San Diego Gas & Electric has piloted fourth-generation charging systems with integrated solar and an app to give EV drivers information on the cheapest times to charge their cars. In 2015, the company’s senior vice-president of power supply told Greentech Media that under the pilot, more than 90% of charging took place at no impact to the grid.
“You see some of these figures being bandied about for grid upgrades by 2025, and I’m pretty confident that huge amounts of those are just massively overestimated because you can solve that problem for nearly free by demand-side measures.”
