Effective Management of a Public Charging Infrastructure through a Smart Management System for Electric Vehicles

Due to environmental concerns and technological advances, Electric Vehicles (EVs) are rapidly gaining popularity. However, a public charging infrastructure should be deployed to increase the electrical range of EVs and foster their mass adoption. In addition, renewable energy resources shall be integrated in the charging infrastructure to reduce the negative impact of additional EV loads on the existing electric grid. On the other hand, renewable energy sources have intermittent and fluctuating power outputs and this may degrade charging waiting times and drivers' acceptance of the charging service. To address these issues, in this paper we describe a smart management system for regulating EV charging in a public charging infrastructure, which can contribute to mitigate the effect of fluctuating power sources on the charging waiting times. Furthermore, our results show that the proposed intelligent charging policies can satisfy in a timely manner drivers' charging requests with a limited deployment of additional resources.