INTEGRATING DC FAST/RAPID CHARGERS IN LOW VOLTAGE DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS

The continued dependence on fossil fuel-based vehicles with high carbon emissions for road transport has grown rapidly over the last years. In response to the pressing needs to achieve electrification of the transport sector to facilitate a reduction on greenhouse and other dangerous emissions, ultra-low carbon emission electric vehicles (EVs) have been proposed. However, it is important to ensure that existing infrastructure is designed to meet the large uptake of EVs and their charging technologies. The long charging battery durations have led the EV manufacturers to develop faster charging technology, known as DC fast charging, to increase the overall customer comfort (i.e. reduced charging duration). Fast chargers provide hundreds of kW of power and, therefore, the installed capacity of distribution networks will constrain the success of e-mobility. The aim of this paper is to analyse the impacts of integrating 250 kW DC fast chargers on a real low voltage distribution network in Cardiff, Wales. PSCAD/EMTDC is used to examine the operating conditions of the network under maximum and variable consumer load profiles. Simulation cases show that the 250 kW charger can be integrated without affecting the stability of the network while maintaining acceptable voltage operation.