Benefits and Vulnerabilities of Managing a Growing Fleet of Networked Electric Vehicles

Abstract

As the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) becomes more popular within the United States, EVs are a rapidly growing portion of the country's electricity demand. This demand raises many questions about how the power sector can best manage EVs. One commonly investigated strategy for power governance is aggregation, which allows for an intermediary to manage electricity flow between EV owners and utilities. Studying aggregation is particularly attractive due to the key benefits that power flow management can provide to the grid, such as enhancing reliability, lowering emissions, and reducing electricity costs. However, despite aggregation's benefits, it is not without its limitations, namely battery degradation, rebound peaks, uncertainties surrounding traffic management, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity vulnerabilities, in particular, are an important emergent interest as the Internet of Things (IoT) expands. This review highlights the broad vulnerabilities of EV aggregation alongside its benefits to provide a holistic overview regarding how to best balance expectations with realistic performance. Investigation finds that grid reliability and electricity cost are a priority across all stakeholder groups while other factors, such as rebound peak, are of highly variable importance across groups. These insights can inform provide policy recommendations regarding how to handle data, support climate goals, and improve equity. These recommendations will help to best facilitate the integration of EV aggregation into the IoT ecosystem.