Some Research Topics on Optimal PEV Charging in Smart

Grid
The sustainable use of infrastructure and available resources related to energy and
electricity has become of utmost concern for our society. Being driven byinternational
discussions on global warming and energy security, a key research is aiming to prevent
bottlenecks in the electric grid in the future with the focuses on smart grids and smart
technologies.Contributing almost 35% to the total energy consumption, the
transportation sector is a field where the application of smart technologies can have
substantial benefits. Electric vehicles (EVs) andtheir related technologies play vital
roles in this area.The EVs in the future will not only provide mobility to their owners,
like our current combustion engine vehicles, but also become an integral part of the
overall smart grid concept.
This new generation of smart cars will also be able to interact with their owners
and the electric grid to optimize their own charging patterns. This optimization has the
potential of getting the balance between economy and reliability effectively and
coordinates the interests of the supplier and users both sides, e.g., reducing the charging
cost for users, mitigating energy usage peaks by shifting charging to off-peak time, and
improving power quality of the entire system. To this end, some promising
researchissues in this area are drawing more and more attention
1)In a battery swapping mode, centralized charging of electric vehicles
(EVs)basedon batteryswapping is a promising strategy for large-scaleutilization of EVs
in power systems. The most outstanding featureof this strategy is that EV batteries can
be replaced withina short time and can be charged during off-peak periods or at low
electric price. In this case, how to design efficient scheduling algorithms for EVs
charging with different specific objectives is one of the important topics on optimal
PEV charging in smart grid.
2) In a plug-in mode, decentralized charging strategies allows each plug-in electric
vehicles (PEVs) to choose their time for charging individually which would result in a
far more dynamic and flexible system than centralized charging strategies may have. In
this case,a smart charging algorithm can be implemented in each PEV to optimize the
global charging processes which will mitigate the dependence on communication
systems and infrastructures.
3) The vehicle-to-grid concept (V2G) offers another innovative system extension
increasing the reliability and performance of electric grids. This framework allows
interaction in both ways between cars and the electric grid. This scheme will enable not
onlygeneral charging with load flattening effects but also frequency regulation down
or up, i.e., the charging of car batteries if the grid frequency or supply are high whilethe
discharging of car batteries back to the net if the frequency is critically low.
4) With the increasing use of uncontrollable distributed generators based on such
renewable energy sources as wind and solar power, the complex system constraints
caused by the high uncertainty in power outputs should be taken into account when

solving the EV charging dispatch problem. In this case, a promising direction will be
oriented to dispatching EV for charging in a gridwith distributed generations using
renewable energy.
5) In spite of the obvious advantages related to EVs, major socio-technical
challenges remain to be overcome. Social and economic barriers might include social
aversions to new technologies, system inertia, opposition from current stakeholders or
market competitors and of course, the initial capital costs. The researchfocusing on the
technical difficulties caused by the additional, fluctuating loads of electric
vehiclesreceives the widespreadattention more and more. Anticipated problems
comprise the integration of the new demand within the existing daily electric load
pattern under the constraint of minimizing the costs for electricity production, e.g.,
reducing peak loads, and system maintenance services including frequency regulation.