Electric vehicles growth until 2030: Impact on the distribution network power

Abstract

In the coming years, we will witness a change in the current car fleet sales, from traditional fuel engines towards electrical vehicles (EVs), particularly passenger light-duty vehicles. They plug into the grid and store the electricity in rechargeable batteries; therefore, the widespread adoption of EVs will bring many challenges for the distribution network. Forecasting the impact of EVs on distribution networks is a difficult task given the uncertainty on the potential evolution of their sales.This study forecasts the EVs sales growth for the 2020–2030 decade in 3 possible evolution scenarios, carried out for a given Portuguese regional area. The demanded energy for charging the batteries was estimated, considering one long and one short route. The analysis was applied to three EVs models: Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model 3, and Renault Zoe. Their impacts on the rated power of the distribution network are calculated for the three scenarios, and the results are presented, standing out the insufficient power at peak hours.

Keywords

• Car fleet
• Charging batteries
• Distribution network
• Energy consumption
• EVs growth
• Power balance