Study uses AI to Evaluate Impact of EV Chargers on Power Grid
As electric vehicles grow in popularity, worries about impact on utility grids concerns FMs, public. June 7, 2024
Artificial intelligence (AI) impacts so many aspects of everyday life and will only continue to expand its use in ways none of us can even imagine in the future.
The next area where AI is flexing its impactful muscle? Electric vehicle (EV) charging. Researchers at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and a data collection company are using AI to gather data to help improve the compatibility between the power grid and EV charging stations.
The study analyzes EV charging behavior so utilities can adjust accordingly for electricity demand as EV becomes more popular among institutional and commercial facilities and the public.
Many current EV setups, the research finds, are wearing out early because of inconsistent power available and a low-quality charging experience. The study analyzed data compiled at six EV stations on Michigan’s campus and devices on 10 vehicles that regularly visit the campus to evaluate charging habits.
As electrification is still in its early stages in many aspects of facility management, such as for buildings and vehicles, the study hopes to set a course for the future and help utilities better adjust to usage trends to enable the power grid to avoid outages.
Researchers hope that the study can help skeptics of EV charging overcome their doubts of the rising technology.
“A lot of fears are because people don’t know the actual EV behavior,” says Yingchen Zhang, vice president of product solutions for Utilidata, which is co-sponsoring the study. “So actually, revealing this information will diminish a lot of those fears.”
Dave Lubach is the executive editor for the facilities market.
