Outlook of Electric Vehicles and Grid Interaction in Energy Internet

Abstract

Energy internet is a development trend of energy systems, and electric vehicles (EVs) are one of important components of an energy system. EVs play a variety of roles in energy internet, and they are closely related to the operation of power grid and transportation system. In this paper, the development history, current situation, and characteristics of energy internet are summarized first. Then, the functions and positioning of electric vehicles in energy internet are analyzed from four aspects: transportation tool, electricity load, mobile distributed energy storage equipment, and communication node. After that, the potential impacts of innovative technologies, such as Vehicular Ad hoc Network (VANET), wireless charging, autonomous vehicle and sharing economy model, on the integration of EVs, power grid and transportation system in Energy Internet environment are discussed. Finally, the paper presents future research directions.