Electrifying medium- and heavy-duty trucks is critical to decarbonizing the transportation sector. Energy needs of electric trucks will likely require megawatt-scale charging stations, which could significantly stress the electric distribution grid. Distributed energy resources (DER) can alleviate this stress and reduce charging costs with proper management. To that end, this work develops a hierarchical predictive control algorithm for future multi-port megawatt-scale charging stations that can provide real-time energy management for stations, decide charging rates, dispatch energy storage system (ESS), and provide grid voltage support. We integrate three algorithmic components: (i) an energy management optimization (EMO) that provides supervisory control to DER assets and charging loads at minute scale, (ii) a real-time energy management system (RT-EMS) that heuristically compensates for fast disturbances at sub-second scale, and (iii) a model predictive control (MPC)-based battery management system (BMS) that communicates future charging demands to the EMO, to manage the overall megawatt-scale site. Validation in a controller hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) environment shows that the hierarchical controller can reduce the total energy consumption from the grid by approximately 28% compared to an uncontrolled case for the station configuration in this paper, without impacting charging time.

This paper presents a comprehensive grid impact analysis design and corresponding mitigation strategies for heavy-duty electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. The charging load of heavy-duty charging station can reach several megawatts, which could induce adverse impacts on the distribution grid if not effectively mitigated. To analyze the impacts and provide corresponding solutions, we select four representative distribution systems—including both single-feeder cases and a multi-feeder case—and design thorough test metrics for the impact analysis. The charging load profiles used in the analysis are derived from realistic conventional heavy-duty vehicle travel data. Based on the analysis results, charging stations are placed at three different representative locations in each distribution system: best, good, and worst locations. Mitigation strategies using a combination of smart charger functionality, on-site photovoltaic (PV) generation, and on-site energy storage (ES) are proposed and tested. A sizing method is also proposed to find the optimal PV-ES-charger capacity that minimizes the capital cost.

Widespread adoption of heavy-duty (HD) electric vehicles (EVs) will soon necessitate the use of megawatt (MW)-scale charging stations to charge high-capacity HD EV battery packs. Such a station design needs to anticipate possible station traffic, average and peak power demand, and charging/wait time targets to improve throughput and maximize revenue-generating operations. High-power direct current charging is an attractive candidate for MW-scale charging stations at the time of this study, but there are no precedents for such a station design for HD vehicles. We present a modeling and data analysis framework to elucidate the dependencies of a MW-scale station operation on vehicle traffic data and station design parameters and how that impacts vehicle electrification. This framework integrates an agent-based charging station model with vehicle schedules obtained through real-world vehicle telemetry data analysis to explore the station design and operation space. A case study applies this framework to a Class 8 vehicle telemetry dataset and uses Monte Carlo simulations to explore various design considerations for MW-scale charging stations and EV battery technologies. The results show a direct correlation between optimal charging station placement and major traffic corridors such as cities with ports, e.g., Los Angeles and Oakland. Corresponding parametric sweeps reveal that while good quality of service can be achieved with a mix of 1.2-megawatt and 100-kilowatt chargers, the resultant fast charging time of 35–40 min will need higher charging power to reach parity with refueling times.

This article examines the impact of unmodeled dynamics on the accuracy of model-based lithium-ion battery state of charge (SOC) estimation. The article is motivated by the need for accurate SOC estimation for online battery diagnostics and control. Reduced-order battery models can lessen the computational cost of online SOC estimation. However, this comes at a price: model reduction is known to cause an estimation bias, in addition to the estimation noise typically induced by sensor measurement noise. This article derives analytic expressions for the expected estimation bias for two lithium-ion battery models: a nonlinear equivalent circuit model (ECM), and a nonlinear electrolyte enhanced single particle model. This derivation assumes a least squares SOC estimation law, but can be extended to other estimation laws. The article validates the analytic SOC estimation error expressions using both Monte Carlo simulation and experiments, for two different commercial lithium-ion batteries: a LiFePO₄ battery and a LiNi_xCo_yMn_zO₂ battery. The end result is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first body of experimentally-validated analytic expressions for the expected SOC estimation errors resulting from lithium-ion battery model reduction.