Agent Based Modelling and Simulation of Plug-In Electric Vehicles Adoption in Norway

Abstract

This paper looks into the consumption side of the power balance, and more specifically on the effects of utilizing an increasingly larger fleet of Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) for personal transportation. To asses this, an Agent Based Model of PEVs has been extended and developed with different charging strategies. The model simulates power demand from a given number of PEVs in a given area, and may be useful for policymakers and researchers alike. Simulations ran for the city of Trondheim reinforce the notion that the rising adoption of PEVs might not only pose a substantial challenge due to the relative size of the power demanded, but more critically also because of the variability that the charging profiles exhibit. On the other hand, the different behaviour of the PEV agents, as modelled through different charging strategies, indicate that incentives such as price signals might effect how much the agent charge at different times. Hence it may even lend the PEVs batteries as assets to help stabilize the power balance in the electric grid.