The challenges of traffic surveys in the context of E-vehicle power consumption analysis

Growing electricity consumption by electric vehicles (EV) could create a challenging situation for low-voltage (LV) grids when high peak demand occurs. Therefore, the development of appropriate charging infrastructure and LV grids is necessary. Due to spatial constraints and socio-economic factors, EV electricity demand and charging infrastructure options vary between different city quarters. In this conceptual paper we design a traffic survey concept to generate data on mobility behaviour and EV electricity consumption within archetypical city quarters, based on theoretical considerations. We review different types of traffic survey methods to determine their characteristics and suitability for these objectives. In order to achieve these goals, the key figures parking behaviour and distance travelled by the population are selected. These metrics can be collected using survey methods that collect data on individual trips. Therefore, questionnaires, GPS tracking or floating car data can be used as a basis. As all of these methods can have the disadvantage of potentially small sample sizes, validation should be carried out using survey methods that collect aggregated data. These include licence plate recognition and machine learning based surveys.