A Novel Optimization of Plug-In Electric Vehicles Charging and Discharging Behaviors in Electrical Distribution Grid

In most countries, the problems of energy and environment are becoming worse. To deal with the environmental impacts and the dependence on fossil energy, many solutions were proposed. Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) is one of the best technique among these solutions. However, the large number of PEVs connected to the power grid simultaneously might increase power fluctuation or even cause the electricity shortage and thus affecting the typical use of the basic load. To cope with this issue and inspire PEV users coordinating with scheduling results, an algorithm was proposed to ensure the power transmission safety of branches and maximize the economic benefits. Considering the cost of both PEV owners and the power grid, a two-phase model of optimizing PEVs charging and discharging behaviors was built. According to the traveling purpose of PEV owners and the current electricity price, in the first phase, a novel model which defines each PEV’s charging or discharging status was established. The number of PEVs’ charging and discharging in each charging station can be obtained. Considering the constraints on the power transportation of branch, in the second phase, we built a mathematical model to maximize the benefit of both power grid and PEV owners. The genetic algorithm was used to optimize the charging and discharging power of PEVs. Simulation results show that the optimization method proposed in this paper has a better performance on the daily power curve compared with the uncoordinated PEVs charging.