Distributed control of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on a smart grid

This paper explores the effect of a distributed control system for the charging of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles utilizing an agent-based approach in a smart grid. The vehicles are regarded as additional loads in addition to a primary forecasted load and use information transfer with the grid to make their charging decisions. MATLAB was used as the simulation tool to design the control strategy and simulate its effect on a power grid. The findings of this study are that the charging behavior and peak loads on the grid can be reduced by use of this distributed control strategy.