Orderly solar charging of electric vehicles and its impact on charging behavior: A year-round field experiment

Zhi Fu, Xiaochen Liu, Ji Zhang, Tao Zhang, Xiaohua Liu and Yi Jiang

Applied Energy, 2025, vol. 381, issue C, No S0306261924025959

Abstract: Orderly charging of electric vehicles (EVs) provides a promising potential of demand-side flexibility to integrate renewable energy. However, it is often questionable in practice because of users' random and short-duration charging behavior, originating from refueling petrol vehicles. This paper proposes to guide users to charge EVs in a grid-friendly way by service mode design. We established a workplace solar charging system to provide intermittent but free charging services for employees. A year-round field experiment with typical private EV users in Beijing was conducted to demonstrate the system performance and the impact on charging behavior. Charging energy was sourced solely from rooftop photovoltaics without energy storage, covering 96.1 % of their commuting travel demand. The users developed a habit of “plugging in upon parking and keeping connected until leaving”. The mean plug-in duration increased from 2.0 h to 9.4 h (approximately the daily working hours), providing more opportunities for flexible regulation. Furthermore, the users became willing to arrive and leave with lower state-of-charge (averagely 50.3 % and 79.1 %), indicating relief of range anxiety and deceleration of battery degradation. This study provides real-world evidence for the transition of charging behavior guided by the charging service mode, which benefits EV users and contributes to grid decarbonization.

Keywords: Electric vehicle (EV); Charging infrastructure; Photovoltaics (PV); Microgrid; Charging behavior; Energy flexibility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261924025959
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:381:y:2025:i:c:s0306261924025959

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.125211

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().