Smart Charging Needs, Wants and Demands, Charging Experiences and Opinions of EV Drivers

Abstract

To reduce emissions of harmful substances (such as CO2, NOx and particulate matter) from transportation a fuel transition is essential. Electric transport is one of the most promising options for achieving this. In order to make this new electric transport market function efficiently, new interactions between new and existing parties are required. The growth of electric transport increases the peak demand for electricity. This creates a greater mismatch between moments of supply and moments of demand. In other words, EV drivers want to have their car charged before departure, and grid operators need to allocate resources to meet this demand. Flexibility from both players is required. Charging must be further optimised (become “smarter”) to facilitate this flexibility. Smart charging means: controlling and optimising the time and speed of charging. For example, when there is a large supply of solar and wind energy, there is little other demand for electricity and the price for electricity is low. With the contribution of many organisations, the Vereniging Elektrische Rijders (VER) and ElaadNL have jointly investigated the experiences and opinions of electric drivers about the smart charging of electric cars with a broad survey called the “National Charging Research”. In total, more than 1800 Dutch electric drivers took part in this study. Among other things, the research paid attention to the way in which EV drivers charge their electric cars, which bottlenecks they experience (at home and away) and what the experience is with smart charging. The main finding was that many EV drivers are familiar with smart charging. They are willing to apply smart charging, but they want to be in control of their sessions. To give them that control, both insight and transparency are essential. To meet the needs and wants of both EV drivers and grid operators, alignment with the momentum of European legislation is required to avoid a mismatch of energy between moments of supply and demand.