Assessment of real-world driving patterns for electric vehicles: an on-board measurements study from Sweden

This study presents an analysis of the driving and charging patterns of passenger, battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs) in Sweden. The analysis is based on 1 year of GPS logging data acquired through the on-board diagnostics port for 334 randomly selected EVs in Sweden. Included are 55 EV models with battery capacities in the range of 16–100 kWh. The results show that 70 % of the electricity is charged at the home location, of which 86 % is charged during overnight parking events. The maximum share of the investigated EV fleet charging simultaneously is 13 % on average (at 00:10 h). For 56 % of the overnight parking events, the EVs arrive home with a state of charge (SOC) of 60 % or more. For the EVs that arrive at the home location with 60 % SOC, they are charged during 64 % and 34 % of the overnight charging events at home for the small (16–50 kWh)-battery and large (54–100 kWh)-battery EVs, respectively. The most-frequent parking duration is 14 h, which is about four-times longer than the time needed for charging and, thus, offers possibilities for flexible charging in time and vehicle-to-grid services. In summary, this study shows that there is a large potential for smart/flexible charging at home, since the EVs often arrive home with a relatively high SOC and are parked at home, between two trips, for a much longer time than is needed to recharge the battery. • Driving and charging patterns of electric vehicles (EVs) are analyzed. • The analysis is based on cross-seasonal GPS logging data from 334 EVs in Sweden. • The most-frequent overnight parking duration is four-times longer than charging. • The EV owners who are living in a detached house shift charging time more often. • The EVs arrive home with a high SOC regardless of battery capacity.