A Cost-Efficient Communication Framework For Battery Switch Based Electric Vehicle Charging

Charging management for Electric Vehicles (EVs) on-the-move has become an increasingly important research problem in smart cities. Major technical challenges include the selection of Charging Stations (CSs) to guide charging plans, and the design of cost-efficient communication infrastructure between the power grid and EVs. In this article, we first present a brief review on state-of-the-art EV charging management schemes. Next, by incorporating battery switch technology to enable fast charging service, a Publish/Subscribe (P/S) communication framework is provisioned to support the EV charging service. Upon that, we develop a fully distributed charging management scheme with the consideration of urban travel uncertainties, e.g., traffic congestions and drivers’ preferences. This would benefit from low privacy sensitivity, as EVs’ status information will not be released through management. Results demonstrate a guidance for the provisioning of P/S communication framework to improve EV drivers’ experience, e.g., charging waiting time and total trip duration. Also, the benefit of P/S communication framework is reflected in terms of the communication efficiency. Open research issues of this emerging area are also presented

Software Defined Networks based Smart Grid Communication: A Comprehensive Survey

The current power grid is no longer a feasible solution due to ever-increasing user demand of electricity, old infrastructure, and reliability issues and thus require transformation to a better grid a.k.a., smart grid (SG). The key features that distinguish SG from the conventional electrical power grid are its capability to perform two-way communication, demand side management, and real time pricing. Despite all these advantages that SG will bring, there are certain issues which are specific to SG communication system. For instance, network management of current SG systems is complex, time consuming, and done manually. Moreover, SG communication (SGC) system is built on different vendor specific devices and protocols. Therefore, the current SG systems are not protocol independent, thus leading to interoperability issue. Software defined network (SDN) has been proposed to monitor and manage the communication networks globally. This article serves as a comprehensive survey on SDN-based SGC. In this article, we first discuss taxonomy of advantages of SDNbased SGC.We then discuss SDN-based SGC architectures, along with case studies. Our article provides an in-depth discussion on routing schemes for SDN-based SGC. We also provide detailed survey of security and privacy schemes applied to SDN-based SGC. We furthermore present challenges, open issues, and future research directions related to SDN-based SGC.Comment: Accepte

A review of electric vehicle charge point map websites in the NSR: Interim report

This interim report is a review of the EV charge point (station) map websites in the North Sea Region (NSR) with the aim to identify if there are any patterns, or any noticeable gaps on the information presented by the interactive EV charge point tools. For each example of the charge point (station) map website, a review has been undertaken by visiting the charge point (station) map website and recording if the site contains the information, which is of key importance from an EV user perspective, for example an interactive map; any information on the charger power of the charge points (stations); the type of connection of the charge points (stations); the addresses of the charge points (stations) and further helpful details

Capturing Aggregate Flexibility in Demand Response

Flexibility in electric power consumption can be leveraged by Demand Response (DR) programs. The goal of this paper is to systematically capture the inherent aggregate flexibility of a population of appliances. We do so by clustering individual loads based on their characteristics and service constraints. We highlight the challenges associated with learning the customer response to economic incentives while applying demand side management to heterogeneous appliances. We also develop a framework to quantify customer privacy in direct load scheduling programs.Comment: Submitted to IEEE CDC 201

E-transportation: the role of embedded systems in electric energy transfer from grid to vehicle

Electric vehicles (EVs) are a promising solution to reduce the transportation dependency on oil, as well as the environmental concerns. Realization of E-transportation relies on providing electrical energy to the EVs in an effective way. Energy storage system (ESS) technologies, including batteries and ultra-capacitors, have been significantly improved in terms of stored energy and power. Beside technology advancements, a battery management system is necessary to enhance safety, reliability and efficiency of the battery. Moreover, charging infrastructure is crucial to transfer electrical energy from the grid to the EV in an effective and reliable way. Every aspect of E-transportation is permeated by the presence of an intelligent hardware platform, which is embedded in the vehicle components, provided with the proper interfaces to address the communication, control and sensing needs. This embedded system controls the power electronics devices, negotiates with the partners in multi-agent scenarios, and performs fundamental tasks such as power flow control and battery management. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the open challenges in E-transportation and to show the fundamental role played by embedded systems. The conclusion is that transportation electrification cannot fully be realized without the inclusion of the recent advancements in embedded systems