Coordinated Electric Vehicle Charging Scheduling: A framework for Alleviating Grid Congestion

The increasing prevalence of Electric Vehicles (EVs) presents challenges in seamlessly integrating EV chargers. This article introduces an enhanced economic model predictive control strategy to address these challenges and alleviate grid congestion caused by EV energy demand. The approach is developed to operate with actual charging station infrastructures and tackles critical issues, including EV supply equipment management, defining charging profiles based on owner preferences, minimizing operational costs, and reducing peak power. It adeptly manages the standard for charger pilot signals and the non-ideal behavior of EV batteries across multiple vehicle types. Through simulations utilizing a comprehensive dataset, the strategy optimizes charging profiles, effectively reducing peak power and achieving cost savings across EV chargers. The study encompasses single charger responses to station-wide evaluations, showcasing the strategy’s applicability and superiority over uncoordinated approaches. This proposed approach, accounting for real-world factors like energy prices and grid demand, establishes itself as an optimal EV charging station operation tool.