Feasibility study of a Solar-Powered charging station for E-Vehicles. A case study of Car Park Slots at the University of Rwanda

Abstract

In recent years, electric vehicles (EV) have globally positioned themselves as a respectable substitute for gasoline-powered automobiles. These cars require "fueling up" their batteries in order to operate. Although grid-based charging has always been the standard, using solar chargers has become a desirable option. Clean electricity, which is good for the environment and pollution-free in and of itself, is what these chargers give electric vehicles. We construct an EV charging station for a parking space for a car-sharing service as part of this project. The timings for rental pick-up and drop-off are set in this type of car-sharing service. I develop a linear programming technique that maximizes solar energy while keeping battery levels constant across all electric vehicles (EVs). The performance of the method was evaluated by applying the developed algorithm to a real-world scenario. Where the synthetically generated datasets are used to demonstrate that the available electric charge is distributed fairly among candidate EVs across seasons and demand profiles. Furthermore, when compared to the best effort charging policy, I eliminate 60% of the difference in battery charge levels. I also show that EVs in the 80th percentile have at least a 75% battery charge at the end of their charging session. Finally, I demonstrate that a solar system proportional to the size of a parking lot effectively distributes solar energy to the served EVs.