Economic Evaluation of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Integration in Microgrids

The operation of charging infrastructure is often not profitable yet. However, the integration of charging infrastructure in microgrids enables the introduction of innovative business models, e. g. by using PV generation and storage units. This study presents several business models, i. a. based on self-supply of electricity and smart charging algorithms. These are evaluated by means of real-world transaction data of the EUREF campus microgrid in Berlin, Germany. The dataset comprises data of 3346 transactions of foremost commercial fleet vehicles from the year 2018. The microgrid configurations evaluated in this study involve the integration of PV generation, battery storage, individually as well as combined. A reference is provided by a comparison to the conventional operation of charging infrastructure. The evaluation shows that the integration of PV generation in combination with smart charging is profitable, due to lower expenditures by local energy supply utilization. Additional integration of a stationary battery is less profitable. However, it increases autarky and flexibility by charge during evening and night hours.