A simulation study of the use of electric vehicles as storage on the New Zealand electricity grid

Abstract

This paper describes a simulation to establish the extent to which reliance on non-dispatchable energy sources, most typically wind generation, could in the future be extended beyond received norms, by utilizing the distributed battery capacity of an electric vehicle fleet. The notion of exploiting the distributed battery capacity of a nation’s electric vehicle fleet as grid storage is not new. However, this simulation study specifically examines the potential impact of this idea in the New Zealand context. The simulation makes use of real and projected data in relation to vehicle usage, full potential non-dispatchable generation capacity and availability, taking into account weather variation, and typical daily and seasonal patterns of usage. It differs from previous studies in that it is based on individual vehicles, rather than a bulk battery model. At this stage the analysis is aggregated, and does not take into account local or regional flows. A more detailed analysis of these localized effects will follow in subsequent stages of the simulation.