Management of Power Quality Issues in Low Voltage Networks Using Electric Vehicles: Experimental Validation

As electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming more widespread, their high power consumption presents challenges for the residential low voltage networks, especially when connected to long feeders with unevenly distributed loads. However, if intelligently integrated, EVs can also partially solve the existing and future power quality problems. One of the main aspects of the power quality relates to voltage quality. The aim of this work is to experimentally analyze whether series-produced EVs, adhering to contemporary standard and without relying on any vehicle-to-grid capability, can mitigate line voltage drops and voltage unbalances by a local smart charging algorithm based on a droop controller. In order to validate this capability, a low-voltage grid with a share of renewable resources is recreated in SYSLAB PowerLabDK. The experimental results demonstrate the advantages of the intelligent EV charging in improving the power quality of a highly unbalanced grid.