With growing concern on climate change, widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is important. One of the main barriers to EV acceptance is range anxiety, which can be alleviated by fast charging (FC). The main technology constraints for enabling FC consist of high-charging-rate batteries, high-power-charging infrastructure, and grid impacts. Although these technical aspects have been studied in literature individually, there is no comprehensive review on FC involving all the perspectives. Moreover, the power quality (PQ) problems of fast charging stations (FCSs) and the mitigation of these problems are not clearly summarized in the literature. In this paper, the state-of-the-art technology, standards for FC (CHAdeMO, GB/T, CCS, and Tesla), power quality issues, IEEE and IEC PQ standards, and mitigation measures of FCSs are systematically reviewed.

The recent increase in large converter-based devices like electric vehicles and photovoltaics increases supraharmonic emissions in low-voltage grids, potentially affecting customer equipment and the grid. This paper aims to give an overview of the different factors influencing supraharmonic emissions from electric vehicles and studies the propagation of supraharmonic currents through a small, low-voltage grid. Measurements in an unique lab representing a possible future household gave valuable insight on the possible developments in primary and secondary supraharmonic emissions in a conventional or power-electronic-dominated system. Emission is, for some vehicles, influenced by the type of grid connection, whereas others show no difference in emission. The supraharmonic currents mainly stay within the local installation due to absorption of nearby devices. The level of voltage distortion is dependent on the connection impedance. During the measurements, another type of interaction between devices is observed in the form of “frequency beating” and intermodulation, in some cases resulting in the tripping of residual current devices. This interaction is further analyzed in order to better understand the possible impact it can have on the grid.

This paper presents some of the Power Quality effects caused by common-used battery electric vehicles in The Netherlands. A set-up to control the charging current and to measure the voltage and current waveforms is developed in order to obtain a representative insight in possible disturbances caused by electric vehicle charging. Of main interest were both harmonic- (up to 2 kHz) and supraharmonic (2 kHz to 150 kHz) disturbances. Especially supraharmonics were of interest, because emission in this range is only partly standardized and battery electric vehicles are a known source of supraharmonic disturbances, leading to unwanted effects. The amount of reactive power is also taken into account. The most important conclusion is that, except for one, all tested battery electric vehicles are a source of harmonic and supraharmonic currents and therefore influence the power quality. It is observed that the harmonic behaviour of the chargers depends on whether nominal- or reduced charging currents are used. The findings of this research are use-full for the assessment of the impact electric vehicles have on the low-voltage grid.