A distributed scheme for fair EV charging under transmission constraints

Abstract

We propose a distributed decision-making scheme to model the charging of a collection of Electric Vehicles (EV). Each charger individually determines its own charging schedule by iteratively transacting signals with a central authority. The EVs respond to signals from the central location, which sets its incentives to ensure safe operation of the local transmission and distribution grid. We study a model whose purpose is to flatten the load while maintaining the fairness of charging. Our model introduces three unique characteristics to this problem: capacity constraints on the distribution grid, fair rationing of energy supply available under the capacity constraint, and discrete choice of EV charger settings. We present a distributed scheme to solve the large-scale optimization model. © 2012 AACC American Automatic Control Council).