Lightweight infrastructure for electric vehicle charging

Abstract

Electric vehicles need a charging infrastructure. In this paper, it will be argued that Sweden already has a charging infrastructure that potentially could provide all cars with electricity if they were electrified. The charging infrastructure consists of existing motor heaters sockets and outlets near e.g. villas and holiday homes which directly or for low cost can be rebuild to provide electric vehicles with energy. Building a lightweight infrastructure for electric vehicle charging consisting of simple sockets is roughly hundred times cheaper than building fast chargers or a charging infrastructure with Type 2 plug with charging modes Mode 2 or Mode 3. Therefore, it is wise to build a lightweight charging infrastructure for electric vehicle charging and use the connectivity of the vehicle to e.g. enable smart charging and other desirable services/applications. Parts of the conclusions and results in this paper have been established in a Swedish project denoted ELVIIS consisting of partners from research (Viktoria Swedish ICT), car industry (Volvo Car Cooperation), telecom sector (Ericsson) and utility industry (Göteborg Energi).