Exploiting Electric Vehicles Mobility to Reduce Grid Dependency in Transit Areas

International audienceThe soaring electricity demand due to Electric Vehicles (EVs) increases the urgency of the evolution from the power grid to the so-called smart grid, to manage demand peaks with minimal infrastructure costs. In this paper, we propose an approach close to Vehicle-to- Grid, where EVs can give back some energy from their batteries during peak times. But we also use EVs as energy transporters, by taking their energy where it is consumed. A typical example is a shopping mall with energy needs, benefiting from customers coming and going to alleviate its grid-based consumption, while EV owners make profits by reselling energy bought at off-peak periods. Based on a simple model for EV mobility, energy storage, and electricity pricing, we quantify the reduction in energy costs for the EV-supported system, and investigate the conditions for this scenario to be viable