Control of EV charging points for thermal and voltage management of LV networks

High penetrations of domestic electric vehicles (EVs) in UK low voltage (LV) networks may result in significant technical problems. This paper proposes an implementable, centralized control algorithm, currently being trialed in 9 UK residential LV networks, that uses limited information to manage EV charging points to mitigate these technical problems. Two real UK LV networks are used to quantify the potential impacts of different EV penetration levels and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the control algorithm (using different control cycles) for simultaneous thermal and voltage management. Monte Carlo simulations (adopting 1-min resolution data) are undertaken to cater for domestic and EV demand uncertainties. Results for these LV networks show that problems may occur for EV penetrations higher than 20%. More importantly, they highlight that even for a 100% penetration and control cycles of up to 10 min, the control algorithm successfully mitigates problems on the examined LV networks. Crucially, to determine effects on the comfort of EV users, a metric is introduced and discussed. The results of different control settings are presented to analyze potential adaptations of the control strategy. Finally, a comparison with an optimization framework highlights that the proposed algorithm is as effective whilst using limited information.