Probabilistic impact of charging plug-in electric vehicles on the electric energy distribution systems

Abstract

The electric power grid including generation, transmission, and distribution system usually serving the loads in the consumer’s side through distribution transformers. Generally, increasing the demand requires increasing the supply and therefore any increasing in the consumer’s side must be covered and delivered by the supply. The distribution transformers are serving the existing residential loads and hence any increase in the power demand must be supplied by that distribution transformers. Since charging these vehicles may have negative impacts on the distribution transformer’s insulation life, the work presented here looks into the probabilistic assessment of the impact of charging plug-in electric vehicles on the distribution transformer’ life time. This thesis also considers the effect of time of use price (TOU) and different charging levels. The results reveal that charging the vehicles as two clusters may significantly reduce the loss-of-life of the distribution transformers compared to charging the vehicles as one cluster.