A first look at the impact of electric vehicle charging on the electric grid in the EV project

ECOtality was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to lead a large-scale electric vehicle charging infrastructure demonstration, called The EV Project. ECOtality has partnered with Nissan North America, General Motors, the Idaho National Laboratory, and others to deploy and collect data from over 5,000 Nissan LEAFs^TM and Chevrolet Volts and over 10,000 charging systems in 18 regions across the United States. This paper summarizes usage of residential charging units in The EV Project, based on data collected through the end of 2011. This information is provided to help analysts assess the impact on the electric grid of early adopter charging of grid-connected electric drive vehicles. A method of data aggregation was developed to summarize charging unit usage by the means of two metrics: charging availability and charging demand. Charging availability is plotted to show the percentage of charging units connected to a vehicle over time. Charging demand is plotted to show charging demand on the electric gird over time. Charging availability for residential charging units is similar in each EV Project region. It is low during the day, steadily increases in evening, and remains high at night. Charging demand, however, varies by region. Two EV Project regions were examined to identify regional differences. In Nashville, where EV Project participants do not have time-of-use electricity rates, demand increases each evening as charging availability increases, starting at about 16:00. Demand peaks in the 20:00 hour on weekdays. In San Francisco, where the majority of EV Project participants have the option of choosing a time-of-use rate plan from their electric utility, demand spikes at 00:00. This coincides with the beginning of the off-peak electricity rate period. Demand peaks at 01:00.