Economic Viability of Dynamic Wireless Charging Technology for Private EVs

Dynamic wireless charging (DWC), which enables charging, while electric vehicles (EVs) are in motion, is an attractive charging way. However, additional installed power tracks underneath the lane bring a significant concern to its economic viability. This article proposes a comprehensive framework to evaluate the economic viability of the DWC lane for private EVs. The investment of local power support with renewable energy integration and energy storage is also considered in the DWC system. Charging choices of private EVs among multiple charging providers are modeled to estimate the electricity demand of the DWC system. The grid impact of the DWC system is studied via a multibus ac network. Moreover, an optimization policy is proposed to maximize the DWC provider’s profit and minimize the grid impact by adjusting the charging price and electricity procurement at each horizon. It is found that the payback period of the DWC system with the proposed optimization policy is shortened by 25% compared with the fixed charging price strategy. Even with a tight grid impact limit, the payback period will not be significantly longer under the proposed optimization policy. When the efficiency of the DWC lane increases to 90% and the cost reduces to 50%, the payback period is shortened by 19% and 22%, respectively.