Seasonal impacts of EV charging on rural grids

Abstract

Rural grids might be subjected to seasonal impacts from plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) that need to recharge batteries after medium-distance or long-distance travelling. A case-study from Hvaler, Norway is presented where this phenomenon has been analyzed. New patterns of use and a rapid growth of PEV sales in Norway may represent a future challenge. Traffic waves build up before weekends and bank holidays during spring and summer on roads leading to recreational areas. If the percentage number of PEVs in this traffic increases a concurrent demand for passive battery recharging may occur. It can be shown that this is likely to cause an aggregated load in the rural grid that must be taken seriously. Critical or close to critical situations might occur before special events early in the year, on Fridays during early summer and around Easter. Each of these situations require customized countermeasures.