The impact of Electric Vehicle battery charging on distribution transformers

Electric Vehicles (EV) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) have a limited share of the current market. However, it is widely expected that the situation will change in the near future and the penetration of battery-operated vehicles will increase significantly. This paper addresses the impact of the mass operation and electricity consumption of EVs and PHEVs on the distribution utility and more specifically on distribution transformers. The charging effect of various types of EV batteries on the life of distribution transformers is analyzed. A typical annual base-load on the distribution transformer is considered and compared with different battery charging load scenarios. Simulation results show that distributing the load profile of the battery charging helps to decrease the distribution transformer loss of life. In addition, power management of the EV and PHEV battery charging and the interface with the Smart-Grid is explained.