About the session
Full presentation title: Monitoring and control of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. A solution suitable for retrofit.
An important challenge for the future distribution grid derives from the expected growth of electric vehicles (EV). The high charging capacities and strong simultaneity of EV charging can lead to overloading and voltage problems, especially in low-voltage networks.
ewz, the utility of the city of Zurich, aims to tackle these challenges and mitigate investments in grid expansion by monitoring and occasionally controlling charging infrastructure.
Electric vehicles are particularly suited to selective control, as they stay connected to the charging station for several hours. They thus offer a high flexibility potential, which can be utilized without causing restrictions to the customer.
This paper presents a proof of concept (PoC) for implementing measures for controlling EV chargers on existing infrastructure. The PoC was realized by ewz in cooperation with the Start-Up Fleco Power, who have developed an innovative solution for charging Control, which is suitable for retrofits. In addition to the communicative integration of the charging infrastructure, extensive tests were also carried out as part of the PoC. The key findings from these tests are also presented in this paper. The infrastructure includes two charging stations, connected through a combined supply line. Each station is equipped with a separate energy meter. The data path through the several control units can be seen in the diagram. Communication within the site is over LoRa.
The main challenges at controlling already existing charging infrastructure are:
1. The stations are not connected to a DSO system and therefore no charging data is available.
2. Ripple control is not adequate, as a selective control is required.
3. A standardized interface on the charging station for control is often not available.
4. Measures, suitable for a retrofit must be cost- and time-efficient.
