Impact of Electric Vehicle Charging on Power Distribution Systems: A Case Study of the Grid in Western Kentucky

With the growing adoption of both residential and commercial electric vehicles (EV) and the rapid deployment of EV charging stations, it is of paramount importance to assess the potential overloading impact of intensive EV charging on the operation and planning of power distribution systems. Targeting at the west Kentucky rural area, this research leverages the Distribution Resource Integration and Value Estimation (DRIVE) and HotSpotter software tools to investigate the potential impact of EV charging on the operation of regional distribution systems and the lifetime degradation of power transformers. The research outcome helps identify possible distribution system overload risks and mitigation solutions to meet future intensive EV charging necessity under assumed EV adoption scenarios. Possible overloading in the distribution systems and undervoltage violations are examined. In addition, the overload impact of EV charging is investigated by conducting a multi-physics reliability analysis of a distribution transformer.

Automated summary

With the increasing use of electric vehicles and the development of EV charging stations, it is crucial to assess the potential impact of intensive EV charging on power distribution systems. This research focuses on a rural area in west Kentucky and uses software tools to investigate the impact of EV charging on distribution system operation and the lifetime of power transformers. The findings help identify risks of system overload and propose mitigation solutions for future EV charging needs. Overloading and undervoltage violations in the distribution systems are examined, and a reliability analysis is conducted to study the overload impact on transformers.