A Survey of Algorithms for Distributed Charging Control of Electric Vehicles in Smart Grid

TL;DR

This survey reviews recent distributed algorithms for EV charging control in smart grids, highlighting their categorization, operational considerations, and how they handle uncertainties to ensure grid stability.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive categorization and discussion of distributed EV charging algorithms, addressing operational, cost, and uncertainty management aspects.

Findings

Distributed algorithms vary by operational and cost considerations.

Many algorithms incorporate uncertainty handling mechanisms.

The survey identifies key research gaps and future directions.

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) are an eco-friendly alternative to vehicles with internal combustion engines. Despite their environmental benefits, the massive electricity demand imposed by the anticipated proliferation of EVs could jeopardize the secure and economic operation of the power grid. Hence, proper strategies for charging coordination will be indispensable to the future power grid. Coordinated EV charging schemes can be implemented as centralized, decentralized, and hierarchical systems, with the last two, referred to as distributed charging control systems. This paper reviews the recent literature of distributed charging control schemes, where the computations are distributed across multiple EVs and/or aggregators. First, we categorize optimization problems for EV charging in terms of operational aspects and cost aspects. Then under each category, we provide a comprehensive discussion on algorithms for distributed EV charge scheduling, considering the perspectives of the grid operator, the aggregator, and the EV user. We also discuss how certain algorithms proposed in the literature cope with various uncertainties inherent to distributed EV charging control problems. Finally, we outline several research directions that require further attention.