Load management of the electricity supply network using plug-in vehicles

A major concern with the move to plug-in vehicles is the destabilisation of the electricity system due to the added burden of charging vehicles at periods of peak load. The expense of reinforcing the system to meet this additional load is too high. The use of smart recharging regimes for plug-in vehicles offers two major benefits to the UK system. It can ensure that charging does not coincide with peak loads, and, by managing the load it can smooth the load profile, increasing the proportion of base load. This paper introduces a new interpretation of daily 'smart charging', and two novel recharging regimes for weekly and seasonal load management. Together these three smart recharging regimes form essential pillars for the future integration of plug-in vehicles to the electricity system, and lay the foundation for exploiting vehicle-to-grid (V2G) opportunities.