Performance Analysis of Communication Networks for EV Charging Stations in Residential Grid

Communication infrastructure is one of the fundamental elements in realizing the real-time monitoring and control of electric vehicle (EV) charging. This paper aims to design communication network architecture for remote monitoring and control of EV charging stations in a residential grid. A communication network consists of three levels: device level, communication network level, and application level. The device level comprises EVs, charging stations, electric power connections and meters. The communication network is responsible for data exchange between different entities. The application level is responsible for the management and control of EVs' charging. The types of monitoring data, traffic volume, communication requirements and network ownership are defined and discussed. We develop a communication network simulator for EV charging stations by using OPNET Modeler. Two scenarios are considered: vehicle-to-building and a case study of charging stations in Suwon City, South Korea. The network performance is evaluated and discussed with regard to end-to-end delay in the scenarios.