How driving electric cars affect the power grid

Do you drive an electric vehicle and live in Norway? If so, then you are among the 52% of Norwegian drivers who have invested in the ever-growing trend of electric cars.

In Norway, back in 2012, only 3% of cars in circulation were electric, but that changed rapidly, rising to 29% in 2016, 39% in 2017 and 52% in 2018.

Could this trend be replicated in other countries? If you lived in Iceland then you would have been among the 15% of electric car drivers, if you lived in the Netherlands you would have been amongst the 3%, if you live in the US, among the 1% and if you lived in Denmark then you would have been part of the 0.5%. If you do not own an electric car, how soon do you think you will get one? In five years, in ten years, never?

The small number of charging points is an important factor which inhibits buyers from choosing an electric car.

To solve this, investments are required to be made in infrastructure projects for the installation of electric car charging points.

By setting up national networks on motorways and within cities, commuting with an electric vehicle will become a more reliable option, and the number of electric cars will increase. With the increasing use of electric cars, the demand for electric power will also be rising, as an electric car needs energy approximately equal to that consumed by the average household during a recharging session.

For example, if a district is composed of 50 homes and ten of the owners drive an electric car then the electric power needed to meet the neighbourhood’s needs will be equivalent to that needed for 60 homes.

Based on estimates, if the use of electric cars continues to rise at a steady rate, then the demand for electricity by 2050 will increase sharply. It is estimated that just driving electric cars will push the demand for electric power internationally up by 20% by 2050.

The increasing use of electric cars poses great challenges for the future development of electrical systems in order to meet consumer needs.

The capacity of the electrical system will need developed accordingly in order to meet all demands.

Electrical system operators will need to study and predict the behaviour of consumers using electric cars.

How will the daily electricity demand curve fluctuate? How will demand for electric power fluctuate according to the time of day, the location and use?

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Dependent on charging costs, consumers develop three behavioural patterns with regards to recharging their vehicles: (a) charging at their workplace; (b) charging at home; and (c) charging a fleet of corporate cars.

Recharging (i.e. electric power demand from electric cars) at the workplace rises sharply from 8 am until 10 am and drops after 11 am until the end of the business day.

Charging at home is minimal during the day but increases gradually after 6 pm, reaching a peak at midnight.

Corporate car fleet charging peaks around 3 pm and slows down during evening hours.

All the above behaviour patterns lead to an increasing demand for electric power resulting in the fluctuation of the electric power demand curve during the day. Electrical system operators should study the above patterns and take the appropriate actions in order to properly manage electrical power.

Charging service providers should seek solutions to change the current mentality through smart pricing in order to reduce the above effects on the electrical system by applying different billing rates in various time zones over the 24 hour period to limit unwanted high power demand.

Finally, looking even further into the future, systems of cooperation between electric cars and the electrical system should be implemented in such a way as to enable a reverse flow of electrical power, that is to say, from the electric car back to the electrical system. Andreas Poullikkas is Chairman of the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority www.cera.org.cy

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