Smart vehicles in the smart grid: challenges, trends, and application to the design of charging stations

Future "smart electric vehicles", expected to evolve from emerging electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) are becoming increasingly attractive. However, the current electric grid is not considered capable of handling the power demand increase required by a large number of charging stations, especially during peak loads. Furthermore, the envisioned critical infrastructure for such vehicles must include the capability for information exchange involving energy availability, distances, congestion levels and possibly, spot prices or priority incentives. In this chapter we discuss current trends and challenges in this fascinating and rapidly developing area of research. Our emphasis is on topics related to control, demand-response, infrastructure provisioning and the communications framework necessary to accomplish all of these "smart" features. As a particular application and a form of case study, we zero in on the design and development of charging stations. We describe a candidate PHEV charging station architecture, and a quantitative stochastic model that allows the analysis of its performance, using queuing theory and economics. The architecture we envision has the capability to store excess power obtained from the grid. Our goal is to promote a general architecture able to sustain grid stability, while providing a required level of quality of service; and to further the development of a general methodology to analyze the performance of such stations with respect to traffic characteristics, energy storage size, pricing and cost parameters.