Dedicated solar charging systems for electric vehicle (EV) batteries

• Main Author: Abdul Rahman
• Other Authors: Govinda Bol Shrestha
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/17942
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With growing environmental concerns, the cleaner electric vehicles are becoming more popular to replace the conventional internal combustion engine vehicles. As production of electric vehicles is expected to grow in the near future, more power is needed to supply the electric vehicles. This will increase the demand from utility distribution system and power stations. There is a need to find other cleaner power sources to meet the power demand of electric vehicles. A standalone photovoltaic system which takes advantage of the energy from the sun is one of the cleaner power sources. The viability of such a system in individual households is investigated in this research project. One of the first things to do before designing or assessing the feasibility of utilizing a standalone photovoltaic system to charge electric vehicle is to estimate the charging energy requirements of the electric vehicle. The estimation of charging energy requirements is obtained through a survey to estimate the usage of electric vehicle daily, finding out the energy efficiency of the electric vehicle and also taking into consideration the efficiency of the charger. The charge demand was found to be 0.335 kWh per km of distance travelled. The standalone photovoltaic system depends solely on the amount solar radiation it receives to provide energy for the electric vehicle as no auxiliary power or utility grid is connected to such a system. As electric vehicle is used in the daytime, the energy generated in the daytime is stored in the storage batteries to provide energy for charging the electric vehicle at night. The historical solar radiation data of the place to install solar arrays is studied to estimate the size of the photovoltaic array and storage battery needed. In this research project, the solar radiation data for the worst case months in Singapore was studied for sizing the photovoltaic system in order to minimize the system cost and to ensure reliability of the system.