Is the grid ready for large scale EV adoption?

There is a great article on the IEEE Smart Grid website that investigates the question, are we ready for more #tesla?

Abstract

In the modern age, energy consumers have high expectations for energy supply reliability. Many advanced measures are required to ensure that the power grid is ready for the large integration of Electric Vehicles (EVs). A proper architecture design for an EV charging system is crucial to ensure a reliable power supply for EV demands. Healthy interaction between the EV and power system can greatly upgrade the reliability and sustainability of the power grid, as well as provide ancillary services to the power grid. This technology is denoted as Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G). In the early development stage of V2G, a small-scale framework shall be easy and efficient enough to stimulate a wider adoption of the technology. This also serves as an educational stage in getting the society ready to accept this new concept. When the technology matures, these small-scale V2G building-blocks can be combined and interact via aggregators for smart grid applications. Literature has demonstrated the flexibility of the EV charger when interacting at various scales of the power grid such as smart home, power distribution grid and microgrid.

source - Overview of Electric Vehicle System Architecture

The largest takeaway from this article is that for the modern "smart grid" to accommodate the rise in electric vehicles it needs to allow for wide scale aggregation of vehicle charging. By aggregating these chargers the system can balance real-time demand.

To take this a step further, these "mobile energy storage" systems can be designed to be bi-directional, decoupling to some extent the need for a 100% balanced generation with consumption in real-time.

For more articles like these visit the IEEE Smart Grid portal, and join the IEEE Smart Grid Community here.