Why and where does the balancing of the Power arise in charging EV vehicles come from?
Well, let’s analyse some basic facts and why this is important to address this pressing issue.
The power consumption by an EV depends on various factors like the technology/vehicle, driving behaviour, artificial/natural environment, battery etc., an average EV consumes approximately 0.20 kWh/km and that may result in a consumption of 3600 kWh of units per year if the EV driver drives on an average of 50 km every day. In such a case, he would incur a total cost of approx. $540 is charged at $ 0.13 per kWh.
On the contrary, the average American usage of a fossil fuel-based car would consume approximately 508 gallons of fuel per year for the same driving pattern of 50 km per day. This will incur the cost of approximately $ 2290 /- which is more than four times the cost of what an EV driver would incur in electricity charges. In addition to that, an EV vehicle generates less noise, no CO2 emitted into the atmosphere and has substantially less service and maintenance costs compared to a fossil fuel-based car. This also helps reduce the carbon footprint globally. Due to the inherent advantages of owning and driving an EV car, the global citizens have reciprocated very well in EV adoption which is evident from the EV sales figures globally and is expected to grow to 220 million Light-Duty Vehicles by 2030 (source: iea.org).
Even though it is quite daunting and difficult to do an exact estimation of the impacts of the electricity usage and demand, if we do simple mathematics, today less than 10 million EV vehicles are running globally and we are expecting to reach 220 million by 2030 and this will put a huge demand of electricity consumption coming from the transport sector. However, the energy consumed from electricity still accounts for 22% compared to 46% coming from oil and this includes consumption coming from all industries and not just the transport. The transport sector consumes only 26% of the total energy consumption. Hence, if we look at the global patterns of electricity demand, this is not going to be substantially high in the short term till the Oil-based economy shrinks to a great extent. But the problem arises with the geographical concentration of EVs and their charging behaviour.
The short spike in demand for energy on the grid due to peak hour EV charging behaviour, for example, when the workforce returns home and plugs their EV vehicles during evening hours at home, will generate a surge in demand on the grid. Having said that, this could differ from grid to grid depending on where the majority of the EV owners are geographically located and which grid supplies them the required power.
This sudden surge in demand for power creates two major challenges for the utility operator.
- The grid could buy the additional power demand from the open market – which is very expensive and will drive their OPEX high
- The grid could go for upgrading the infrastructure – This has very high CAPEX requirements and may not be feasible in the short run
So, how do the EV Charging Service providers address this problem of the load curve for the utility/e-mobility operators?
The high load curve or a sudden surge in demand can be addressed by optimizing the energy utilization and balancing the grid. This can be achieved in multiple ways as discussed below:
- Implementing V2H/G technologies
V2H or V2G represents a bi-directional communication capability where an EV vehicle not only can draw power to charge its battery but can also act as an energy provider by being part of a huge distributed energy store. In simple words, an EV car can power our homes if there is a need or send unused power back to the grid if there is a need and redraw the power from the grid when needed. For example, most of the cars sit idle (>90%) in the parking lots or garages and are used rarely. In such cases, they can participate as distributed power sources and help in grid balancing activities.
- Smart charging solutions
The smart charging solutions utilize intelligent algorithms to perform load management of the power and balance it during the day when the charging activity happens keeping in mind the local grid limitations. It manages, monitors and balances the energy distribution to the EV vehicles while charging.
- Diversifying the energy utilization with renewable sources
Renewable energy sources help balance the load by charging the batteries and can be utilized to balance the load during peak hours.
- Incentivizing the EV user by promoting off-peak charging
The EV driver must be presented with real-time information on cheaper tariffs by promoting peak hour EV charging so that the load on the grid is reduced during peak hours.
- Incentivizing and promoting battery swapping technologies, especially for 2/3 wheelers.
For the markets like Asian markets where there is a strong presence of 2/3 wheelers, the battery swapping technology not only helps balance the power strain on the grid but also makes it very convenient for the driver to swap the battery pretty quickly. The batteries can be charged by the battery swapping stations during the off-peak hours.
- Empowering the Grid operators with real-time predictive data analytics and demand projections
The utility operators are rushing against time to build more intelligent and smart systems to manage the grid and ensure the utility is provided as a commodity to the user as and when they need it with ease and convenience. This has mandated them to drive their operating models through digital transformation and real-time data-driven culture.