A method to evaluate maximum available capability of accommodating plug-in electric vehicles in residential distribution networks

In recent years, the ever-increasing charging demand of private electric vehicles (EVs) in China imposes challenges for power supply security and reliability in the residential distribution network concerned. In some residential communities, installations of private charging facilities are limited by the available capability of the distribution network concerned. On the other hand, it is important to facilitate the battery charging for promoting the extensive use of EVs. Hence, it is necessary to evaluate the available capability of accommodating EVs in the residential distribution network concerned so as to determine the acceptable capacity of EV charging installations as well as the required capacity upgrading of the distribution system. Given this background, a methodological framework is presented to evaluate and maximize the available capability of accommodating EVs in a given distribution system by employing the statistical distribution of daily travel patterns, and a linear programming formulation developed. The developed optimization model is solved through combined use of linear optimization method and binary search. Finally, a practical residential distribution system is employed to demonstrate the proposed method.