Assessing the Impact of an EV Battery Swapping Station on the Reliability of Distribution Systems

Abstract

This paper proposes a comprehensive methodological framework to investigate the potential role of the grid-connected battery swapping station (BSS) with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capability in improving the reliability of supply in future distribution networks. For this aim, we first develop an empirical model for describing the energy demand of electric vehicles (EVs) and their resultant available generation capacity (AGC) that can be utilized for BSS operation. Then, on this basis, a quantitative method to quantify the effect of grid-connected BSS on distribution system reliability is proposed. In order to capture the uncertainties associated with EV users’ behaviors, Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) methods were utilized to obtain the time series of the BSS traffic flow and initial State of Charge (SOC) of each EV battery, according to the probability distribution of corresponding uncertain factors whose statistics are obtained from real-world historical data. Compared with existing works in this research field, the main contributions of this paper are threefold. (i) A comprehensive and efficient method to assess the reliability benefits of BSS with an explicit consideration of BSS characteristics (including physical structure, charging strategy, and swapping model) is proposed, which is in contrast to most of the extant studies that only focus on the EV fast-charging paradigm and thus provide a practical tool to analyze the potential value of BSS resources in future distribution systems. (ii) The randomness of EV user behaviors in BSS operation is explicitly modeled and considered. (iii) The LHS-based sequential simulation is used to improve the accuracy and convergence performance of the evaluation, as compared to the traditional Sequential Monte Carlo Simulation (SMCS) method. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach, numerical studies are conducted based on a modified IEEE 33-bus distribution network. The simulation results show that with V2G capabilities, BSS can improve reliability to a certain extent and reduce the adverse impact on the reliability of the distribution network. In addition, EV resources should be orderly managed and exploited; otherwise, uncoordinated charging activities could impose a negative impact on the reliability performance of distribution networks. Finally, it is also shown that under the same sampling time, LHS-based sequential simulation could be better than SMCS in the accuracy and convergence speed of the procedure.

Battery Swapping Stations for Electric Vehicles

“…A battery swap solution offers a controlled charging strategy in terms of scheduling battery charging time without plugging in and immobilizing an entire EV for more than 20 minutes. Charging stations for the batteries themselves or battery swap stations that are also charging stations are able to defer charging to off-peak demand hours, which can solve the grid overload problem [4,25].…”

Reliability-Based Optimal Integrated Microgrid Scheduling in Distribution Systems

“…An IEEE-40 bus test system was utilized in the proposed study, and the zone branch methodology was performed to evaluate the system reliability. Authors in [8] investigated the potential capability of the vehicle-to-grid with the grid-connected battery swapping station in improving the reliability of distribution networks by proposing a comprehensive methodological framework based on quantitative and Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) methods. Authors in [9] proposed an Electric Vehicle (EV) charging station placement strategy based on a Voltage stability, Reliability, and Power loss (VRP) index for distribution networks considering the impact of the resulting fast EV charging station loads.…”

A Survey of Battery Swapping Stations for Electric Vehicles: Operation Modes and Decision Scenarios

“…Hence, drivers must rely on public charging and swapping services for power supply [18]. • With the promotion of BSS modes, the BSS service network is maturing in the transportation system, and EV drivers can reach nearby BSSs within an acceptable traveling distance (e.g., 5-10 km) [19]. • Advanced battery swapping services, such as battery renting, discount swapping fees and battery upgrade policies, were introduced by NIO to entice drivers to use BSS services [20].…”