Impact of Electric Vehicles Botnets on the Power Grid

TL;DR

This paper investigates how botnets of compromised electric vehicles and fast charging stations can be exploited to launch cyber attacks that disrupt power grid stability, causing congestion and voltage violations.

Contribution

It introduces the vulnerability of EV charging infrastructure to cyber attacks and analyzes the impact of botnet-driven attacks on both distribution and transmission networks.

Findings

Botnet attacks can significantly increase load on the power grid.

Such attacks can cause line congestion and voltage limit violations.

The impact varies between distribution and transmission networks.

Abstract

The increased penetration of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in the transportation sector has increased the requirement of Fast Charging Direct Current (FCDC) stations to meet customer's speedy charging requirements. However, both charging stations and EVs connection to the communication infrastructure as well as the power grid makes it vulnerable to cyber attacks. In this paper, the vulnerability of the EV charging process is initially studied. We then show how a botnet of compromised EVs and FCDC stations can be utilized to launch cyber attacks on the power grid resulting in an increase in the load at a specific time. The effect of such attacks on the distribution network in terms of line congestion and voltage limit violations is investigated. Moreover, the effect of the botnet of the transmission network is also studied.