Pricing mechanism for EV fast charging stations considering distributed energy resources

The growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) requires large-scale deployment of fast charging stations (FCS). These FCS owners are usually private investors and focus on the growth of their businesses. This enforces FCS to design a suitable pricing mechanism to achieve their financial goals, build customer relationships, and maintain competitiveness in the market while considering distributed energy resources (DERs). Therefore, there is a need to develop a holistic approach to keep the interests of all stakeholders in mind while deciding the pricing for EV charging at FCS. Hence, this paper proposes pricing mechanisms, flat and dynamic pricing for EVs charging at FCS considering DERs against dynamic market prices. The proposed pricing mechanisms are designed to keep profit margin of FCS remains same relative to no DERs considering EVs users’ convenience, satisfaction and waiting time. Price-cum-convenience responsive models are proposed for price elasticity of demand and EV users’ satisfaction. The study reveals that both pricing mechanisms under DERs are equally promising as they produce more competitive price signals which are around 11 % lower, up to 61.81 % reduction in grid energy demand during overload periods, and up to 6 % increment in mean satisfaction of EV users while keeping the profit margin intact for FCS owners.