Comparing Power-System and User-Oriented Battery Electric Vehicle Charging Representation and Its Implications on Energy System Modeling

Niklas Wulff, Felix Steck, Hans Christian Gils, Carsten Hoyer-Klick, Bent van den Adel and John E. Anderson
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Niklas Wulff: Department of Energy Systems Analysis, Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, German Aerospace Center, Pfaffenwaldring 38-40, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Felix Steck: Department of Passenger Transport, Institute of Transport Research, German Aerospace Center, Rudower Chaussee 7, 12489 Berlin, Germany
Hans Christian Gils: Department of Energy Systems Analysis, Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, German Aerospace Center, Pfaffenwaldring 38-40, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Carsten Hoyer-Klick: Department of Energy Systems Analysis, Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, German Aerospace Center, Pfaffenwaldring 38-40, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Bent van den Adel: Department of Vehicle Systems and Technology Assessment, Institute of Vehicle Concepts, German Aerospace Center, Pfaffenwaldring 38-40, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
John E. Anderson: Department of Passenger Transport, Institute of Transport Research, German Aerospace Center, Rudower Chaussee 7, 12489 Berlin, Germany

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-41

Abstract: Battery electric vehicles (BEV) provide an opportunity to balance supply and demand in future power systems with high shares of fluctuating renewable energy. Compared to other storage systems such as pumped-storage hydroelectricity, electric vehicle energy demand is highly dependent on charging and connection choices of vehicle users. We present a model framework of a utility-based stock and flow model, a utility-based microsimulation of charging decisions, and an energy system model including respective interfaces to assess how the representation of battery electric vehicle charging affects energy system optimization results. We then apply the framework to a scenario study for controlled charging of nine million electric vehicles in Germany in 2030. Assuming a respective fleet power demand of 27 TWh, we analyze the difference between power-system-based and vehicle user-based charging decisions in two respective scenarios. Our results show that taking into account vehicle users’ charging and connection decisions significantly decreases the load shifting potential of controlled charging. The analysis of marginal values of equations and variables of the optimization problem yields valuable insights on the importance of specific constraints and optimization variables. Assumptions on fleet battery availability and a detailed representation of fast charging are found to have a strong impact on wind curtailment, renewable energy feed-in, and required gas power plant flexibility. A representation of fleet connection to the grid in high temporal detail is less important. Peak load can be reduced by 5% and 3% in both scenarios, respectively. Shifted load is robust across sensitivity analyses while other model results such as curtailment are more sensitive to factors such as underlying data years. Analyzing the importance of increased BEV fleet battery availability for power systems with different weather and electricity demand characteristics should be further scrutinized.

Keywords: electric vehicles; sector coupling; energy system optimization; renewable energy integration; REMix; charging behavior; marginal values (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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