Energy Management: The Key to Large-Scale Electric Car Charging Station
As the gas prices continue to incline in recent years, when considering the purchase of a new car, more people are turning to the electric car market. Yes, electric cars are a great way to save on gas costs, it often can be only 1/4 of the conventional charge or less. However, what comes with the increase in electric cars on the road is the increase in demands for commercial charging stations on the go. These charging stations are mostly hosted by private entities with the hope to attract more customers to their business or adding a modern touch to their amenities.
Currently, around 90% of electric vehicle owners in the United States are house owners, meaning the necessity for commercial chargers is still low. However, as electric cars reach more people, owners living in multi-unit housing will have a hard time installing home chargers, thus an increase in demand for commercial chargers in the coming years.
It is predicted that the electric vehicle market in 2030 will require more than 55 million chargers in the buildings, consuming at least 525 TWh per year. The number of EV chargers in the United States is expected to more than triple in the next decade.
The Problem
Despite these positive growth trends in the electric car industry, one major problem still hinders the facilitated growth of the number of charging stations on the road. That is:
The lack of energy management and infrastructure to support electric vehicle charging stations.
This problem can often be overlooked, however, it leads to increased per charging station installation cost. More specifically, the cost to get a grid update is 25–30% of the total up-front costs for public AC level 2 chargers and is 15–20% of the cost for DC fast chargers (DCFCs). Moreover, the civil construction cost (trenching and boring) can be 25–40% of the up-front cost. These unnecessary and extra costs can drag down the implementations of larger-scale station deployment and slow the development of electric vehicle influence.
Adding to the old infrastructure is the unplanned energy management system. This can be the largest hidden cost in electric vehicle charging. Peak demand charges based on the highest use increments of time can make up around 30% of the charger cost on a recurring basis. If many EV owners charge their car at the same time, this cost can be even higher. For example, the peak demand charges for a 16.8 kW charger alone can reach $1,600 per year. This lack of energy management can even cause power outages in buildings and neighborhoods.
Electric Vehicle Charging Station
The private entities’ goal by installing electric vehicle charging stations on their properties is to attract more users. Platforms such as EV Connect strive for more users to increase profit through pay-as-you-go or subscription services. Entities such as shopping malls or workplaces strive for a better user or employee experience to maintain long-term user flow and loyalty. Despite all these efforts, the lack of effective energy infrastructure increased the cost to achieve these goals. This can decrease the number of charging stations because it is simply not worth it.
On a broader scale, the shift to electric vehicles is a shift to lower carbon emissions globally through the decreased usage of fossil fuels. This shift can effectively lower global fossil fuel dependency and facilitate the development of more renewable energy infrastructures. However, through bad energy management awareness and the lack of long-term energy storage facilities, peak-time electricity is often produced by burning fossil fuels in plants which are counter-intuitive to the goal of electric vehicles and charging stations.
EV Charging Station Platforms
The goal of the EV charging station platforms such as EV connect is to increase the number of station hosts in the network in order to increase monthly subscription profits. EV Connect, for example, offers a reliable management platform for station owners to manage their charging stations and for the users to find the closest charging station in the network.
To increase the number of hosts using the platform, two different routes can be taken. First, an increase in customer demands will incentivize more electric charging stations to open up. Second, a decrease in electric charging station installation cost will allow these hosts to open more new EV stations in the network.
According to these two potential routes to increase profit for EV station hosts and platforms, changes can be made to the current EV station charging cost and to urban planning solutions to further achieve an increase in the costs and profits.
Potential Solution #1: Time-Based Charging Cost
In Nevada, the cost of electric vehicle charging can be one of the lowest states in the United States thanks to an abundance of solar supply. The solar panels in the Nevada desert aided the transition to more usage of renewable energy in all sectors.
A dilemma appears when energy usage and solar energy production are not at constant levels. When the energy consumption in the city is graphed with the time of the day, a phenomenon called the duck curve can appear. That is an increase in energy usage in the morning, a dip during mid-day, and a significant increase in the evening (read my duck curve article here). The existence of this phenomenon means the peak demand charge is the highest during morning and afternoon time frames.
Solar energy is supplied at the highest level mid-day when the sun gives the most energy. This surplus in electric energy is often wasted due to the low energy demand at mid-day. On the other hand, solar energy is at the lowest in the morning and at night when energy consumption reaches its peak. This forces more electricity made from fossil fuels to be supplied onto the grid to compensate for the increase in consumption.
EV stations and platforms can take advantage of such a surplus of renewable solar energy mid-day by offering the lowest per kW rate around noon and slightly increase the cost in the morning, afternoon, and at night. This way, more users can be attracted by the low charging cost around noon, thus increasing customer flow. Moreover, fossil fuel usage at night and in the morning can be effectively decreased due to the lack of high voltage electric vehicle charging burden.
Potential Solution #2: EV Station Energy Planning in Advance
The second solution will require the collaboration of multiple urban planning entities to work together to lower the cost of EV station installation.
First, Urban planners and regulators can set new standards for charging infrastructure in buildings which will become an essential part of the power supply in the future if the building will be equipped with EV charging stations. For example, planners and governmental agencies can require a certain number of EV stations for a large parking garage or lot. This action can allow builders to start to carefully consider planning electrical routes for these EV stations.
In the more extreme urban situation, utility companies can also plan the city with a new set of grids only for EV charging stations under circumstances of perceived future DCFC installation or large-scale AC level 2 developments. This can decrease the strain on the old electric infrastructure in the city centers and save money on grid updates during the installation.
Second, electrical consultants and engineers should communicate the electrical distribution requirements for a new building capable of supporting an EV charging station in the future with the owner. These small preparations such as running an electrical conduit to the parking lots or front of the building for future EV stations can save the builder thousands of dollars in the future.
These pre-installed infrastructures can completely cut out the grid update and infrastructure development cost during installation and increase the development of more EV stations in the urban areas.
Lastly, I just want to express my interest in seeing and hopefully being a part of this new technological trend in an effort to shift towards more renewable energy sources. The future is closer than we thought, so we need to prepare for it through skillful planning and more innovations!
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Thanks for reading till here!!! My name is Gabo, I am a 16-year-old renewable energy activist. 👧 I genuinely hope that I can do my part to make the world a better place! 🌎 🌳
Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still. 👋
