No abstract

This article presents preliminary analysis of the Latvian national EV fast - charging network after the first year of operation. The first phase of Latvian national EV fast-charging network was launched in 2018 with 70 charging stations on the TEN-T roads and in the largest towns and cities. The article looks at the initial results, both looking at the total capacity utilization for individual charging stations, determining the hourly charging distribution; and to the utilization of the network as a whole. The results present that there is a very large dispersion of the data, most of the charging events happening in a few charging stations in and around the capital of Latvia. However, there have been charging events in all charging stations, even in the most remote ones. Even more skewed distribution was observed analyzing the charging habits of the EV users, with 10 % of users accounting for more than half of the charging events. This should be taken into account when considering applying the results for the future, expecting larger number of electric vehicles in Latvia.

The article focuses on developing an operation model, how to decrease the necessary grid connection power for electric vehicle fast charging stations, based on the current electric vehicle (EV) charging tendencies in Latvia. In order to reach the goals of decreasing CO2 emissions in the transportation sector, Latvia has rolled out electric vehicle fast charging infrastructure on the main TENT roads. However, because this infrastructure will not be uniformly used all across Latvia, the maintenance and infrastructure costs are high. This article is examining a possibility of decreasing these costs by introduction of energy storage and renewable energy sources to lower the required grid connection power level. The specific task of the article was development of a model based on the charging data from EV charging sessions to reliably simulate possible charging scenarios as EV use will increase in the future. The model was then validated using Monte Carlo simulations and compared with the empirical results. The possibilities of grid connection power decrease were analysed. The results demonstrated that introduction of energy storage and photovoltaic energy would currently decrease the operational costs for 93 % of the EV charging stations in the Latvian fast charging network.

No abstract

This paper describes the initial findings of research project “The Possibilities of Increasing Efficiency of City Bus Hybrid Propulsion Systems by Including Wireless Battery Charging” carried out by „LEO Research Centre” (Competency Centre for Latvian Electrical and Optical Manufacturing Industry). The project is aimed at developing wireless charging and optimising electric bus propulsion system for modern urban transportation applications. The project runs from the beginning of the 2013 until the end of 2015 and focuses on the sub-theme “Energy and Sustainable Transport”.