Electric vehicle charging during the day or at night: a perspective on carbon emissions

TL;DR

This paper proposes an emission-oriented EV charging scheme evaluated in ERCOT, showing significant CO2 reductions during day charging and highlighting policy incentives to enhance emissions benefits.

Contribution

It introduces a novel emission-oriented charging scheme and analyzes its impact on carbon emissions compared to direct charging.

Findings

Emission-oriented charging reduces CO2 emissions by 13.8% on average.

Significant CO2 reduction in 30% of days with emission-oriented charging.

Policy incentives can better reflect emissions reduction benefits.

Abstract

We propose an emission-oriented charging scheme to evaluate the emissions of electric vehicle (EV) charging from the electricity sector at the region of Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). We investigate both day- and night-charging scenarios combined with realistic system load demand under the emission-oriented vs direct charging schemes. Our emission-oriented charging scheme reduces carbon emissions in the day by 13.8% on average. We also find that emission-oriented charging results in a significant CO2 reduction in 30% of the days in a year compared with direct charging. Apart from offering a flat rebate for EV owners, our analysis reveals that certain policy incentives (e.g. pricing) regarding EV charging should be taken into account in order to reflect the benefits of emissions reduction that haven't been incorporated in the current market of electricity transactions.