Even the biggest electric car enthusiasts are beginning to realize the serious problem that the abandonment of internal combustion cars can pose. The current and planned power grids will not be able to meet the electricity demand when all electrical appliances are connected to the grid after returning home in the evening. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say in a paper submitted for publication in the journal “Cell Reports Physical Science” that the problem can be solved. All drivers need to do is recharge their car, not where they would like to and… not when they would like.
The authors of the article admit that global plans to combat global warming by electrifying transport and using renewable energy sources for this purpose have a significant limit. Current simulations indicate that if each of the users of these cars wants to recharge it in the evening after returning home, more power stations will be needed to supply the necessary approximately 20%. additional energy. At the same time, the possibilities of photovoltaic installations will not be fully exploited.
It has already been suggested that to alleviate the problem, a fairly complex system that controls charging processes based on the currently available power will need to be created. And it will cost.
Zachary Needell, Wei Wei and Prof. Jessika Trancik of the MIT Institute for Data, Systems and Society have a different idea. In their opinion, it is possible to develop a system that will allow optimization of pricing processes without excessively costly investments. However, this does not mean that there will be no charges. According to them, it is absolutely crucial to build a wide and well-located network of charging stations where people work, so that they can recharge their electricity during the day, when solar energy is available.
But this is not the end. The second important element is the creation of a system of incentives, for example financial, which will encourage drivers to decide to charge their car late on returning home. Everyone would estimate what time they would need the car in the morning, so the charging process in entire cities would be spread over time and there would be no evening rush. This would eliminate the need to provide additional capacity from new power plants.
In their work, the MIT scientists based their analysis on real data from two cities, New York and Dallas. Both anonymized indications of devices installed in cars were collected there, as well as surveys in which the drivers themselves described their habits. On this basis, the actual traffic of these cars has been assessed, when and under what circumstances they are taxed, whether in places of residence, work, shops or leisure establishments. As pointed out by prof. Trancik, such a search allows you to plan a strategy for the location of charging stations so that they fulfill their task and do not overload the network.
The authors of the study point out that increasing the number of charging stations in the workplace as much as possible will have a very beneficial additional effect. Thanks to this, the batteries of electric cars will be an additional storage of energy obtained from photovoltaic sources. For the moment, there is still no technology allowing the construction of cheap and large capacity storage of this energy, electric cars being able to alleviate this problem. What is also important is that cars can then recharge more slowly, which will allow better use of photovoltaic energy.
As for charging cars at home, the authors’ proposal can be implemented using a simple app that will estimate the charging time and turn it on well before the departure time set by the driver. . Such a strategy will make it possible to shift the peak of energy demand to the morning hours, without tying the whole system to a remote-controlled network.
Of course, sockets in private garages are not enough. The system will need to include another set of chargers, this time on streets in residential areas or home parking lots. Only in this way will it be possible to provide electrical conductors with real comfort. A dense charging network is essential anyway. If enough drivers are convinced of these principles, it will be possible to save money on the construction of energy storage facilities and additional power plants.