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ScienceDirect
Energy Procedia 100 (2016) 243 – 247

3rd International Conference on Power and Energy Systems Engineering, CPESE 2016, 8-12
September 2016, Kitakyushu, Japan

Optimal EV charging control strategy based on DC microgrid

WU Shengjuna, XU Qingshana, LI Qunb, YUAN Xiaodongb, CHEN Bingb*
a
School of Electrical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, Jiangsu Province, China;
b
Jiangsu Electric Power Research Institute, Nanjing 211103, Jiangsu Province, China

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) charging facilities and renewable energy systems can be directly associated within microgrid to achieve
coordination and complementary, and reduce the negative impact on the grid. This paper firstly introduces the system structure of
DC microgrid and its unit functional models. Secondly, the appropriate microgrid energy management control strategy based on
day-ahead prediction is developed, according to the different power demand scenarios. Finally, the actual DC microgrid case
verifies the optimal control strategy’s synergies with renewable energy and electric vehicle charging equipment. It provides a
reference to solve large-scale electric vehicle charging power demand and renewable energy consumptive problems in the
distribution grid.
2016The
© 2016 TheAuthors.
Authors. Published
Published by by Elsevier
Elsevier Ltd.Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of CPESE 2016.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of CPESE 2016
Keyword:electric vehicle; photovoltaic generation; energy storage; DC microgrid; optimization control

1. Introduction

Development of renewable energy and electric vehicle have been established as an effective way to ensure energy
security and realize emission reduction by many countries. However, photovoltaic and wind power and other
renewable energy sources with the output volatility and intermittent characteristics, making large-scale of renewable
energy connected to the grid still have many barriers to overcome. On the other hand, it is difficult to keep the power
grid stable operation and optimize the scheduling for large-scale electric vehicle charging uncertainty and large load
characteristics [1]. If the EV charging power is generated by coal-fired power plants, the emission advantage for EV
is not obvious [2]. To achieve the true meaning of low carbon and emission reduction targets: one is improving the
grid absorptive capacity for renewable energy by the study of grid-connected renewable energy technologies; the
second is the establishment of electric vehicle charging infrastructures directly associated with the renewable energy
generation through microgrid [3-4].
This paper studies an EV charging optimal control problem in DC microgrid. Firstly, a DC micro-grid model with
electric vehicle, photovoltaic and energy storage is established. Then optimal control strategy is proposed for EV
charging in different scenarios. Finally, DC microgrid in Jiangsu EPRI as an example, to verify the effective of the
EV charging optimization control strategy.

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-13813859781.

E-mail address: wsj333@163.com.

1876-6102 © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of CPESE 2016
doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2016.10.172
244 Wu Shengjun et al. / Energy Procedia 100 (2016) 243 – 247

2. DC microgrid model

2.1 The structure of DC microgrid

A DC microgrid is mainly composed of PV system, EV charging device, battery energy storage system, grid-
connected system, and microgrid energy management system, as shown in Fig.1.
2.2 Function of system components

2.2.1 PV system
The PV system is composed of PV modules and related DC/DC converter. The DC/DC converter is running in
the MPPT strategy [5]. The actual output power of a PV system is mainly affected by both solar irradiation and
environmental temperature.
0LFURJULGHQHUJ\
PDQDJHPHQWV\VWHP

DC BUS

DC DC DC DC
DC DC DC AC

0.4/10kV

39 (9 (QHUJ\VWRUDJH *ULGFRQQHFWHG

Fig.1 Structure of the DC microgrid

2.2.2 EV charging device

The EV charging device is composed of DC charger and EV battery, battery charging power and current are
controllable. Recently the battery also is charged with a constant power. In the constant power charging mode, the
charging time is determined by the charging capacity and the charging power.
2.2.3 Energy storage system
The energy storage system is composed of lithium-ion battery and DC/DC converter. The energy storage system
completes load shifting, PV dissolved and power fluctuations smoothing function.
2.2.4 Grid-connected system
The grid-connected system is mainly composed of bidirectional AC/DC inverter and distribution transformer.
During the operation, the grid-connected system transfers energy between distribution grid and DC microgrid, and
keeps the voltage of DC bus stable.
2.2.5 Microgrid energy management system
The microgrid energy management system monitors and controls the operation of each modules in the DC
microgrid. Based on the monitoring data, the energy management system controls the charging power of EV and the
charging power supplied by the PV system, energy storage system or distribution grid. The microgrid energy
management system helps to achieve PV power dissolved, optimization of EV charging, and microgrid balance.

3. Optimal control strategy of EV charging

3.1. PV generation forecast

PV generation forecast can be divided into ultra-short-term, short-term and long-term forecast by the duration. In
this paper, the PV generation forecast is used to develop schedule plans. The PV generation has strong correlation
between the future and the history output when its weather conditions are similar. This paper establishes the forecast
model using historical PV generation data combined with weather data.
 Wu Shengjun et al. / Energy Procedia 100 (2016) 243 – 247 245

3.2. Analysis of EV charging demands

The EV charging demands are closely related to daily mileage, kilometers power consumption and battery
capacity. According to the US Department of Transportation survey on the national household vehicles, daily
mileage of the vehicle approximately log-normal distribution, its probability density function as follows:
1 ª  ln d - P D 2 º
fD (d ) ex p «  » (1)
d V D 2S ¬« 2 V D2 ¼»
Where, ȝD represents trip distance expectations, ıD represents the standard deviation.
EV power consumption is generally 15 ~ 30 kWh per hundred kilometers, subject to the specific types of EV,
battery age, temperature and road traffic and other factors.
3.3. Economic analysis of (9charging
EV charging economy relates to electricity prices and equipment operating efficiency. If the EV charging energy
from the grid, then charge fees associated with the peak-valley electricity price. If the PV generation energy directly
uses to EV charging, its energy efficiency is high. Therefore, the EV charging energy directly from the PV
generation is the best economy for the EV charging.
3.4. Energy storage system control strategy
During the EV charging, there are three main tasks for the energy storage system: 1) mitigating the fluctuation
caused by PV generation; 2) improving proportion of PV energy dissolved in the microgrid; 3) increasing the
economy of EV charging. To achieve these three tasks, the energy storage system should store energy in the valley
and discharge in the peak to compensate for the lack of power.
3.5. The EV charging control strategy
If the EV charging without optimization control, part of the PV generation energy cannot be used by EV charging.
While the EV charging gets power from distribution network during peak period, it increases peak load and the cost
of charging is high. So it is necessary to optimize the control of EV charging for achieving economical optimization
and reducing peak loads through microgrid energy management. EV charging optimized control strategy implements
through the microgrid energy management system, the control strategy optimization process shown in Fig.2.

4. Case study

4.1. Background
This paper takes a DC microgrid in Jiangsu electric power research institute to study the optimal EV charging
control strategy. The DC microgrid configures with 100kW grid-connected AC/DC converter, 30kW EV charging
device, 30kW PV generation system, 30kW/30kWh lithium battery storage system, and 20kW controllable load. The
following case is the application of the optimal EV charging control strategy in the commuter bus.
PV generation and EV changing
demand day-ahead forecast

Calculate the lack of charging

electricity

Scene 1 Microgrid energy Scene 3

optimization control

Scene 2

Energy storage system Energy storage system and

EV charging power
compensates the lack of the grid compensate the lack
tracks PV generation
charging energy of charging energy

Fig.2 optimization control strategy of EV charging

246 Wu Shengjun et al. / Energy Procedia 100 (2016) 243 – 247

4.2. The analysis of the EV charging

Since the DC charging pile rated power is 30kW, less than 0.3C EV charging power, so the general EV charging
mode is 30kW charging until full. The optimal EV charging strategy takes advantage of DC microgrid, charging
process optimization as shown in Fig.2. General and optimized charging modes contrast are shown in Fig.3.

40
PV
general charging
30 optimized charging
general grid power
20 optimized grid power
Power/kW
10

-10

-20

-30
0 4 8 12 16 20 23
Time/h

Fig.3 general and optimized EV charging results in contrast

The general and optimized EV charging results contrast in a typical sunny day shown in Fig.3. In the sunny day,
the PV generation power is much more than the amount of EV charging need, the charging energy can be fully
provided by the PV generation. The general EV charging with 30kW from 8:30 until the battery is full. For the PV
generation power is less than 30kW, it acquires power from the distribution network to supply the EV charging.
After the EV battery is full, the PV generation power through the inverter feeds into the distribution network, and
energy storage system does not operate in the general charging mode. In the optimized EV charging mode, the
charging power tracks PV generation output from 8:30, its charging time is slightly longer than the general mode.
The energy storage system absorbs the excess PV generation power according to setting grid-connected power, so
the maximum exchange power of DC microgrid and distribution network is limited to 10kW, and the EV charging
process does not take power from the distribution network as shown in Fig.3.
4.3. Evaluation analysis of the optimized EV charging
The evaluation indexes of optimized charging mode are much better than general mode, as follows:
1) The optimized charging mode improves PV self-consumptive rate about 30% than the general mode, which
achieves a better self-consumptive of PV generation power.
2) The optimized charging mode does not get energy from distribution network in the peak hours, however, the
general mode without optimized charging solution increases the grid peak load.
3) The electricity price of optimized charging mode is much lower, for it takes full advantage of PV generation
power and low price of the valley electricity.

5. Conclusion

For EV charging increases grid peak load and renewable energy grid integration problems, this paper presents an
optimized EV charging control strategy based on DC microgrid. The charging strategy through forecasting the
demand of EV charging energy and PV generation power to schedule optimization of energy management processes
in three different scenes. The case study results show that the strategy can improve self-consumptive rate of PV
generation, decrease peak electricity consumption during the EV charging and reduce the cost of EV charging. The
optimization strategy is useful to solve large-scale distributed power integration and EV charging load impact on the
grid problems.

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