High-performance charging for the electrification of highway traffic: Optimal operation, infrastructure requirements and economic viability

Battery electric vehicles are rapidly entering the market. Their success offers great opportunities for the decarbonization of the transport sector, but also pose new challenges to energy infrastructures. Public charging stations must be built and power grids may become congested. In this article, we analyze the optimal layout and operation of charging systems along highways. We introduce an optimization model that resolves every single charging event based on actual high-resolution demand profiles, thus providing a detailed account of infrastructure operation and utilization. We discuss the economic viability and identify potential roadblocks impeding a rapid build-up of electric mobility.We find that the installation of high-performance charging stations is highly profitable even for rather low demand, mainly due to the spread between wholesale and retail electricity prices. Congestion of regional distribution grids becomes a serious issue already for a moderate market penetration of electric vehicles. While peak loads can be handled by battery electric storage systems, the grid connection fundamentally limits the total amount of cars that can be served per day. Given the long time period needed for the planning and realization of infrastructure measures, rapid decisions are needed to enable the deep decarbonization of the transport sector.