Future of Electric Vehicle Charging

Charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EV) will be the key factor for ensuring a smooth transition to emobility. This paper focuses on five technologies that will play a fundamental role in this regard: smart charging, vehicle-to-grid (V2G), charging of EVs from photovoltaic panels (PV), contactless charging and on-road charging of EVs. Smart charging of EVs is expected to enable larger penetration of EVs and renewable energy, lower the charging cost and offer better utilization of the grid infrastructure. Bidirectional EV chargers will pave the way for V2G technology where the EV can be used for energy arbitrage and demand-side management. Solar charging of EV will result in sustainable transportation and use of the EV battery as PV storage. On the other hand, stationary contactless charging and on-road inductive charging of EV will remove the necessity for any cables, eliminate range anxiety issues and pave the way for automated driving. The electromagnetic and power converter design for contactless power transfer systems for future highways is reviewed in this paper.