Feasibility assessment & design of hybrid renewable energy based electric vehicle charging station in Bangladesh

The rapid increase in electric vehicle (EV) in Bangladesh requires more energy to run these vehicles. Moreover, the transportation sector produces Green House Gas (GHG) especially CO2 emissions. Due to the excess power needed to recharge these EVs, the national grid has to supply more than 500 MW daily. This paper proposes an Electric Vehicle Charging Station (EVCS) based on solar and biogas to reduce the burden on the national grid. The proposed EVCS integrates a combination of a solar PV module (10 kW), three biogas generators (10 kW), 25 lead acid batteries (each 100 Ah), a converter (10 kW) and charging assemblies. This paper analyzes the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of the proposed EVCS using the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Renewables (HOMER) Pro software. This configuration estimates a Cost of Energy (COE) of $0.1302/kWh, total net present cost (NPC)of $56,202 and operating cost of $2540. In addition, the proposed model reduces the CO2 emissions by 34.68% compared to a conventional grid-based charging station. The designed EVCS saves approximately $12-$18 per month to recharge an EV which increases the socio-economic standard of EV owner.