Grid congestion mitigation in the era of shared electric vehicles

Rapid integration of photovoltaic systems and electric vehicles in low-voltage grids increasingly causes grid congestion. To avoid costly grid reinforcements, distribution system operators are looking into applying electric vehicle smart charging algorithms to shift part of the load to off-peak hours. However, multiple barriers hamper the large-scale implementation of smart charging. These barriers can be alleviated when using electric vehicles in car sharing schemes for smart charging. Shared electric vehicles make up an increasing share of the car fleet and using these vehicles for smart charging exhibits different advantages over using private vehicles, including better predictable departure times and higher acceptance for smart charging. This study proposes a system for grid congestion mitigation using only shared electric vehicles and assesses this system’s techno-economic potential. Results affirm that grid congestion problems can be fully mitigated in most grids using shared electric vehicles at relatively low car sharing adoption rates. Also, the costs increase of using this system is negligible compared to a system with combined grid congestion mitigation of privately-owned and shared EVs.