Effects of Plug-in Electric Vehicles on Distribution Systems: The Real Case of Gothenburg

The electric power system is changing and, especially, the electrical distribution system will meet new features. One of the large changes is a transformation of the transportation sector with the use of electricity, with introduction of electrical vehicles and Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs). This will pose new challenges and opportunities for the electric distribution companies. This paper analyzes the effects of PEVs charging on the local 400 V and 10 kV electric distribution systems in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, using steady-state power flow analysis. Two different areas representing residential area and commercial area have been simulated for the worst-case scenario, which is simultaneous charging of all the vehicles during the peak load period. The number of PEVs used has been estimated based on the load level at each customer location. The study results have shown that overloading of lines would occur when simultaneous charging of the vehicles during the peak load period. There would, however, be no problem with the voltage drop at the customer’s location during PEVs charging. An iterative method is proposed to estimate the maximum number of possible vehicles charging in the distribution system without resulting in any line overloaded. This method is also applied when one of the feeders is on outage to ensure the N-1 reliability criterion