Optimal Charging of Plug-in Electric Vehicles for a Car-Park Infrastructure

This paper proposes an intelligent workplace parking garage for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). The system involves a developed smart power charging controller, a 75-kW photovoltaic (PV) panel, a dc distribution bus, and an ac utility grid. Stochastic models of the power that is demanded by PHEVs in the parking garage and the output power of the PV panel are presented. In order to limit the impact of the PHEVs' charging on the utility ac grid, a fuzzy logic power-flow controller was designed. Based on their power requirements, the PHEVs were classified into five charging priorities with different rates according to the developed controller. The charging rates depend on the predicted PV output power, the power demand by the PHEVs, and the price of the energy from the utility grid. The developed system can dramatically limit the impact of PHEVs on the utility grid and reduce the charging cost. The system structure and the developed PHEV smart charging algorithm are described. Moreover, a comparison between the impact of the charging process of the PHEVs on the grid with and without the developed smart charging technique is presented and analyzed.