Analysis of the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle for the smart grid of Canada

The conventional electricity grids, which are supposed to supply the electricity to the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), need to adapt to overcome the problems of reliability, security, economics and environmental concerns. Accordingly, electric utilities in several countries are exploring the possibilities of implementing more robust interactive smart grids. This article analyses salient features of a smart grid in the Canadian perspective, and discusses PHEV and its role in the future smart grid. A simulation tool has been used to assess the impacts of charging of PHEV on the future electricity grid of Canada under different penetration rates. The article indicates the associated environmental benefits of PHEV.     

Should policy-makers allocate funding to vehicle electrification or end-use energy efficiency as a strategy for climate change mitigation and energy reductions? Rethinking electric utilities efficiency programs

In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by an order of magnitude, a portfolio of mitigation strategies is needed. Currently, many utilities pursue energy efficiency programs. We study a case where utilities could choose whether to allocate their energy efficiency budget to either end-use efficiency or vehicle electrification as a means to reduce CO₂ emissions. We build a decision space that displays the conditions under which utilities should pursue either strategy. To build such decision space, assumptions are needed on how consumers respond to electric vehicle incentives, and what would be the baseline vehicle selected by consumers if no incentives were in place. Since these two aspects are highly uncertain, we treat them parametrically: if consumers are replacing a conventional vehicle with a PHEV, utility incentive programs to induce PHEV adoption appear to be cost-effective for a wide range of efficiency program costs and grid emissions factors.     

Energy use, cost and CO2 emissions of electric cars

We examine efficiency, costs and greenhouse gas emissions of current and future electric cars (EV), including the impact from charging EV on electricity demand and infrastructure for generation and distribution.Uncoordinated charging would increase national peak load by 7% at 30% penetration rate of EV and household peak load by 54%, which may exceed the capacity of existing electricity distribution infrastructure. At 30% penetration of EV, off-peak charging would result in a 20% higher, more stable base load and no additional peak load at the national level and up to 7% higher peak load at the household level. Therefore, if off-peak charging is successfully introduced, electric driving need not require additional generation capacity, even in case of 100% switch to electric vehicles.GHG emissions from electric driving depend most on the fuel type (coal or natural gas) used in the generation of electricity for charging, and range between 0 g km⁻¹ (using renewables) and 155 g km⁻¹ (using electricity from an old coal-based plant). Based on the generation capacity projected for the Netherlands in 2015, electricity for EV charging would largely be generated using natural gas, emitting 35-77 g CO_2 eq km⁻¹.We find that total cost of ownership (TCO) of current EV are uncompetitive with regular cars and series hybrid cars by more than 800 € year⁻¹. TCO of future wheel motor PHEV may become competitive when batteries cost 400 € kWh⁻¹, even without tax incentives, as long as one battery pack can last for the lifespan of the vehicle. However, TCO of future battery powered cars is at least 25% higher than of series hybrid or regular cars. This cost gap remains unless cost of batteries drops to 150 € kWh⁻¹ in the future. Variations in driving cost from charging patterns have negligible influence on TCO.GHG abatement costs using plug-in hybrid cars are currently 400-1400 € tonne⁻¹ CO_2 eq and may come down to −100 to 300 € tonne⁻¹. Abatement cost using battery powered cars are currently above 1900 € tonne⁻¹ and are not projected to drop below 300-800 € tonne⁻¹.     

Evaluation of commercial lithium-ion cells based on composite positive electrode for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle applications. Part I: Initial characterizations

Evaluating commercial Li-ion batteries presents some unique benefits. One of them is to use cells made from established fabrication process and form factor, such as those offered by the 18650 cylindrical configuration, to provide a common platform to investigate and understand performance deficiency and aging mechanism of target chemistry. Such an approach shall afford us to derive relevant information without influence from processing or form factor variability that may skew our understanding on cell-level issues. A series of 1.9 Ah 18650 lithium ion cells developed by a commercial source using a composite positive electrode comprising {LiMn_1/3Ni_1/3Co_1/3O₂ + LiMn₂O₄} is being used as a platform for the investigation of certain key issues, particularly path-dependent aging and degradation in future plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) applications, under the US Department of Energy's Applied Battery Research (ABR) program. Here we report in Part I the initial characterizations of the cell performance and Part II some aspects of cell degradation in 2C cycle aging. The initial characterizations, including cell-to-cell variability, are essential for life cycle performance characterization in the second part of the report when cell-aging phenomena are discussed. Due to the composite nature of the positive electrode, the features (or signature) derived from the incremental capacity (IC) of the cell appear rather complex. In this work, the method to index the observed IC peaks is discussed. Being able to index the IC signature in details is critical for analyzing and identifying degradation mechanism later in the cycle aging study.     

Market penetration analysis of electric vehicles in the German passenger car market towards 2030

There is currently intensive public discussion of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) and other electric powertrains, such as battery electric vehicles (BEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and hybridized combustion engine vehicles (HEV). In this context, the German government has set the target of one million electric vehicles on the road by 2020, and six million by 2030 [1]. The goal of this paper is to identify the possible market share of electric vehicles in the German new car fleet in three scenarios in the timeframe from 2010 to 2030. The VECTOR21 vehicle technology scenario model is used to model the fleet in three scenarios. In the reference scenario with business-as-usual parameters, 189,000 electric vehicles will be sold in Germany by 2020. Scenario two with purchase price incentives from 5000 EUR, high oil prices, and low prices for hydrogen and electricity will result in 727,000 vehicles. In the last scenario with substantial OEM mark-up reductions and external conditions as in the business-as-usual scenario, 3.28 million vehicles will be sold.     

Energy management in metro-transit systems: An innovative proposal toward an integrated and sustainable urban mobility system including plug-in electric vehicles

The energy consumptions growth, the upward interest for environmental sustainability and the technological evolution carry to the necessity to review the planning criteria of urban mobility systems in large cities and metropolitan areas. With this aim, new studies and projects are in progress, especially dealing with the power systems for metro-transit lines and surface electric vehicles. In this framework, the authors perform a study that, from an overview about the main energy management issues connected to the city transport, provides an innovative proposal for the design of sustainable urban mobility system: the integration of the metro-lines with surface plug-in electric vehicles. The present paper includes the energy analysis results, obtained by an application on a real case study of an home-made simulation software, describes the proposal in terms of power systems architecture and business models, pointing out the potential advantages that its implementation could give in terms of energy saving, environmental sustainability and reduced economic impact, as a result of the maximum exploitation of existing electric power plant.     

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles as regulating power providers: Case studies of Sweden and Germany

This study investigates plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) as providers of regulating power in the form of primary, secondary and tertiary frequency control. Previous studies have shown that PHEVs could generate substantial profits while providing ancillary services. This study investigates under what conditions PHEVs can generate revenues using actual market data, i.e. prices and activations of regulating power, from Sweden and Germany from four months in 2008. PHEV market participation is modelled for individual vehicles in a fleet subject to a simulated movement pattern. Costs for infrastructure and vehicle-to-grid equipment are not included in the analysis. The simulation results indicate that maximum average profits generated on the German markets are in the range 30–80 € per vehicle and month whereas the Swedish regulating power markets give no profit.     

分散式电动汽车入网策略研究

电动汽车数量的增长及其用电需求的增加将会对电网产生明显的影响,针对电动汽车用户行为的随机性和特殊性,分析了分散式电动汽车充放电模型;充分考虑电价和充放电电池折算成本对用户行为的影响,采用削峰填谷调度策略,引导用户在低谷时期充电、高峰时期放电;引入博弈的概念分析用户间行为模式,建立分散式充放电博弈模型,通过求解其纳什均衡来求解最优调度策略;最后以某区域内数据进行算例仿真,验证了模型的合理性和有效性。     

基于Cruise的PHEV动力总成集成控制研究

针对目前PHEV动力总成系统各部件协调控制的不足,对混合动力汽车多能源动力总成的集成控制进行了研究,提出了一种动力总成部件的系统集成控制方法。依据发动机、电机、蓄电池、动力耦合器等各部件电控单元ECU的属性及特点,构建了动力总成各主要部件ECU的模型,以此为基础搭建了集成系统的协调框架,利用系统ECU实时监测各动力部件ECU的工作状态和环境状态,结合逻辑门限阈值控制和状态流程图,判断总成系统的工作模式,并在Matlab/Simulink和Cruise环境下进行了控制策略的联合仿真验证。研究结果表明,PHEV动力总成的集成控制策略具有良好的控制效果,有效适应了外界工况的变化,改善了发动机的工作点并且降低了燃油消耗,解决了总成各部件的动力匹配与协调控制问题。     

PHEV整车控制器CAN通信系统设计

以襄阳市新能源专线PHEV(外插充电式混合动力客车)整车控制系统为例,基于SAE J1939协议内容,采用新的PHEV整车网络拓扑结构及CAN总线通信协议,以TMS320LF2812的CAN控制器为主节点,以AT89S52单片机和独立的CAN控制器SJA1000构成CAN通信网络智能的从节点,实现紧凑高效的控制网络。