Smart chargers for electric tourism vehicles using photovoltaic energy with wireless network management

Abstract

In recent years, the increasing concern for the environment and the consequent restrictions imposed on greenhouse gas emissions and the search for alternative sources of clean renewable energy, has increasingly motivated the use of battery electric vehicles (BEV) as a viable eco-friendly mobility solution. Electric mobility (e-mobility) has been widely discussed for use in urban areas, but it can also be analyzed for applications in tourism. The e-mobility infrastructure for tourism can be composed of different solutions, however, although they do not solve problems related to congestion, BEVs for individual transport can be very attractive because they are a more sustainable solution, with less environmental impact, with greater access capacity to remote areas and for enabling more easily the development of an energy charging infrastructure using renewable sources of high capillarity and low cost. One of the main technological challenges related to the transition to tourism-oriented e-mobility is adapting the energy distribution infrastructure to accommodate the increased demand arising from BEV charging. In this way, smart two-way charging stations emerge as a crucial element for it success. For an active contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the energy provided by charging stations can be, for the most part, from renewable sources, such as solar photovoltaic. Additionally, charging stations can incorporate energy storage systems (ESS) to increase the flexibility and reliability of their operations. Thus, it becomes possible to use the energy from the BEV and ESS to inject energy into the grid to assist in meeting the local energy demand. In this context, this project aims to study new techniques for managing and controlling the operations of a smart charging station for tourism BEV using photovoltaic generation with ESS and wireless network communication with the power grid operator to coordinate the operations involved. The proposed topology uses a common DC bus, where the station elements are connected by power converters. Photovoltaic generation and BEVs are connected by DC/DC converters, while the AC power grid is connected to the DC bus by an AC/DC voltage source converter. (AU)