Interactions between electric mobility and photovoltaic generation: A review

Photovoltaic generation and electric mobility are disruptive technologies in the power and transport sectors, and both pose challenges for power grids. The scholarship has focused on potential synergies when these two technologies are combined, and recent research shows that interactions between photovoltaic generation and electric mobility could decrease the overall burden on power grids, and empower one technology with the other's specificities. Electric vehicles (EV) could use photovoltaic energy (PV) and benefit from cheap carbon-free electricity for charging. In return, PV systems could use the bi-directional flexibility of EV batteries to maximize their self-consumption. As these synergies operate, economic spillovers from these technologies are expected to improve, thus further leveraging their joint deployment. Here we develop a systematic framework to review the various underlying conditions for synergy as they have been studied in the literature. It emerges that this synergy is driven by technical as well as economic factors. First, it happens in the mid-scale spatial configuration (large workplace buildings and charging stations) and less obviously at other scales (eg. households, territories) and in technologically diversified systems. Second, although under-studied in the literature, the economic context (level of cooperation between stakeholders, regulation and policy, etc.) of interactions between PV and EV is crucial for successful synergy. Finally, we identify several remaining issues with these conditions that warrant further research.