Evaluating Electric Vehicle Charging Impacts and Customer Charging Behaviors - Experiences from Six Smart Grid Investment Grant Projects
Nov. 30, 2014
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability
The electric power industry expects a significant growth in plug-in electric vehicle sales by 2023, which may substantially increase electricity usage and peak demand in high-adoption areas. This report presents results from six Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) projects that deployed in-home and/or public vehicle charging stations and assessed customer charging patterns. The utilities evaluated the technical performance of the charging systems, the potential grid impacts of charging during peak periods, and the potential need for distribution system upgrades and capacity additions to meet expected electricity demand growth from rising adoption of plug-in electric vehicles. As expected, project results showed negligible grid impacts from small-scale electric vehicle charging today, but gave utilities important insights into the demand growth and peak-period charging habits they can anticipate if electric vehicle adoption rises as expected over the next decade.
