G2V and V2G Electric Vehicle Charger for Smart

Grids

Ricardo G. Gago Sónia F. Pinto José F. Silva

INESC-ID Lisboa INESC-ID Lisboa
DEEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, DEEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, DEEC, Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa Universidade de Lisboa
Lisboa, Portugal, Lisboa, Portugal, Lisboa, Portugal,
ricardo.gago@tecnico.ulisboa.pt soniafp@tecnico.ulisboa.pt fernando.alves@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Abstract—Nowadays, Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers need to Regarding their characteristics, EVs are usually grouped in
guarantee fast charging and, in the scope of smart grids, they should the following categories: Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs),
also be able to provide ancillary services to the grid, thus allowing Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs), including Battery Electric
bidirectional power flow. As an answer to these requirements, in this Vehicles (BEVs) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle
work it is proposed a compact modular fast charging system allowing (PHEVs), and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEVs).
Grid to Vehicle (G2V) and Vehicle to Grid (V2G) operation. To
guarantee modularity and lower operation voltages the system uses
an association of single phase inverters. Also, high frequency
transformers are chosen to allow volume reduction of the whole EV
charger. The obtained results show that the proposed system allows
fast charging (less than 30 min), G2V and V2G operation, and
minimum power quality impact in the connection to the grid,
guaranteeing that the grid currents Total Harmonic Distortion is
lower than 5%.

Keywords—Fast charger, modular system, Lithium battery, Fig. 1. Types of EVs

G2V, V2G.
I. INTRODUCTION
The evolution in transportation has been boosting the
growth of societies and industry, shortening distances.
Nowadays, vehicles are essential in daily transportation, and an
increasing effort is being done to replace the pollutant
combustion engines by electric motors. Due to the large
increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) caused by the growth of
industry and transportation, in 1997 the Kyoto treaty was
signed. This treaty aimed to drastically reduce the level of CO2
and has encouraged the search for new and cleaner energy
solutions. As a result, Electrical Vehicles (EVs) reappeared as a
solution to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in transportation
[1]. Still, nearly two decades after, the massive use of EVs is
behind the expectations, mainly due to the following reasons:
1. The acquisition cost. Even though there are many
financial incentives, EVs are still considered
expensive in comparison to combustion vehicles;
2. The difficulty of travelling long distances due to the
relatively small autonomy of the batteries;
3. Reduced number of charging stations in, and
especially outside the cities;
4. Life span of the batteries (around 8 years);
5. The charging time is much higher in comparison to the
combustion engine vehicles.
HEVs include two complementary drive systems: a
gasoline engine and an electric motor. However, they cannot be
recharged from the power grid. Their energy comes entirely
from gasoline and regenerative braking.
BEVs only have an electric drive system. Their batteries
may be recharged through regenerative breaking, but are
mainly recharged through a plug in system connected to an
external source of electricity, usually the electric grid.
PHEVs are equipped with an internal combustion engine,
even though they run mostly on batteries which are recharged
by plugging into the power grid. The combustion engine is
used to recharge the battery and/or to replace the electric drive
train when the battery is low and more power is required.
FCEVs use fuel cells, which create electricity from oxygen
and compressed hydrogen, to power the electric motor. These
vehicles are still in development phase, and the fueling stations
are limited.
Currently PEVs use lithium batteries [2], [3] because they
present a relatively low auto-discharge, nearly no memory,
high durability and the possibility to allow reduced charging
time with high charging current (fast charge).
Table I presents the autonomy of some Plug-in EVs
(PEVs), including BEVs and PEVs [4], [5].

978-1-5090-1846-8/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE

 TABLE I. MODELS, TYPES, BATTERY CAPACITY OF PEV [4], [5] able to provide ancillary services to the grid [7], [8], thus
guaranteeing V2G and G2V operation.
EV
Battery Catalogue Autonomy
Model
Type
Capacity Electric Fossil Fuel Total The proposed system includes high frequency galvanic
[kW] [km] [km] [km] isolation, and is able to guarantee fast charging, not exceeding
BMW i3 BEV 18.8 130 - 130 the battery voltage and current ratings; reduced harmonic
Volkswagen e-Golf BEV 24 134 - 134 content of the battery current; and minimum current harmonic
Nissan Leaf BEV 24 135 - 135 content in the connection to the grid. Also, it allows G2V and
Citröen C-Zero BEV 16 150 - 150 V2G operation, guaranteeing the compliance with international
Renault Zoe BEV 22 170 - 170 standards: IEC 61851-23:2014 [9] in G2V operation mode and
Fiat 500e BEV 24 186 - 186 IEEE1547 [10] in V2G operation mode.
Kia soul EV BEV 27 193 - 193
Tesla Model S 85D BEV 85 434 - 434
Chevy Volt PHEV 16 61 483 544
II. PROPOSED G2V AND V2G FAST CHARGER
Audi A3 E-Tron PHEV 8.8 48 757 805 To guarantee modularity and lower voltage operation, the
Toyota Prius
PHEV 4.4 18 852 870 proposed fast charger (Fig. 2) uses an association of three
Plugin Hybrid single-phase modules (Fig. 3), instead of using just one three
phase converter, which would require a higher DC link voltage.
Depending on their characteristics, PEVs may be charged It allows bidirectional power flow, and High Frequency
on-board or off-board [6]. Also, depending on the charging Transformers (HFTs) are used to ensure galvanic isolation, as
time, 3 types of chargers can be defined: well as volume and weight reduction of the whole charger [10],
1) Slow chargers, normally used at home, taking around 8 allowing a high controllability of the whole system [11].
hours to fully charge the battery (20% to 100% of the State of
Charge - SOC); A. Converters Topology
To guarantee bidirectional power flow, single-phase
2) Normal chargers, typically located in parking lots, with a
converters with Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT) and
charging duration of about 4 hours (20% to 100% of the SOC);
antiparallel diodes, are chosen (Fig. 3). These converters may
3) Fast chargers, where a higher power is necessary, usually be operated as rectifiers (AC to DC conversion), or as inverters
take less than 30 minutes to fully charge the battery (20% to (DC to AC conversion).
80% of the SOC) and are typically located in service stations.
Depending on their power flow characteristics EV chargers B. Modulation of the converters connected to the grid
may be unidirectional, only allowing Grid to Vehicle (G2V) To guarantee a nearly unitary power factor in the grid
operation; or bidirectional, allowing G2V and Vehicle to Grid connection, a three level Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
(V2G) operation. strategy is used in the converters directly connected to the grid
(“Grid converters” in Fig. 2).
Unidirectional EV chargers mainly use diode rectifiers in
the connection to the grid and DC/DC converters to adjust the C. Modulation of the converters connected to the HFT
DC voltage level to the battery voltage [6]. Bidirectional
chargers use AC/DC converters with high frequency switching Regarding the converters connected to the HFTs, a high
semiconductors, sometimes associated to DC/DC converters. frequency single pulse modulation (Fig. 4) was chosen to
ensure, in each switching period, nearly zero average value in
Both unidirectional and bidirectional chargers may include the voltages applied to the transformers, thus avoiding their
isolation transformers, especially for higher power operation. saturation [13].
However, in the scope of smart grids, EV chargers should be

Fig. 2. Full schematics of the proposed modular fast charger.

 S11 S21 flow to/from the battery. The power flowing in each capacitor
is one third of the total power, Δt is the transient time, UDCmax
C
and UDCmin are the maximum and minimum voltage allowed:
VAC UDC
2 P0 Δt
S12 S22 C= 2 2
(4)
U DC max
− U DC min

The power P0 flowing to/from the battery, can be calculated

Fig. 3. Single phase full bridge converter.
from (5), where δ represents the displacement factor of the
fundamental component of voltages Vs and VHF.

Vs1RMS VHF1RMS
P0 = sin δ (5)
2 π f s LHF

Fig. 4. Single pulse modulation.

Neglecting the converter losses, the filtering inductance LHF
can be calculated from:
The RMS values of these AC voltages (voltages VP and VHF
in Fig. 2 and Fig. 4) are calculated according to (1) and (2) Vs1RMS VHF1RMS
LHF = sin δ (6)
[13], where UDC may represent voltage UDC1 or voltage UDC2, 2 π f s P0
for HF1 converters or HF2 converters, respectively (Fig. 2).
The battery must be charged with constant current or
α voltage, and the filters are mainly intended to ensure this
V pRMS = U DC (1) condition. Inductors L2 will adjust the voltage level in the DC
π link capacitors to the battery. They are sized to minimize the
current ripple, preventing them to exceed a pre-set value:
2 2 α
V p1RMS = U DC sin (2)
π 2 I DC 2
L2 = (7)
32 f s2 ΔI 2 C2
D. Filters sizing
To guarantee the correct operation of the system,
minimizing harmonic components resulting from the III. CONTROL OF THE CHARGING SYSTEM
semiconductors switching, it is necessary to use filters: in the In order to ensure a null static error and a fast rise time,
connection of the converters to the grid, in the connection of Proportional-Integral (PI) compensators are used, except for
each conversion stage, and in connection to the battery. the battery current controller, where an integral compensator
was chosen.
As a three level PWM is used in the grid connected
converters, to ensure that the grid voltage and current are
nearly in phase, it is required that the grid converters minimum A. Current control of the grid side converters
The block diagram of each grid current controller is
DC link voltage is U DC1 > 2 × 230V .
represented in figure 5 [15], where ig_ref is the reference current,
As VPWM voltage (Fig. 2) is switched at high frequency, the ig is the grid current and αig is the gain of the current sensor.
connection between the grid and the converter should be done
using a filtering inductance, Lg [14]. This inductance also K iig K dg
allows the minimization of the current ripple, Δig which may be K pig +
s sTdg + 1
related to the current and to the Total Harmonic Distortion
( )
(THD) Δi g = 2 3 I g1RMS THDi . Then, knowing the values
Fig. 5. Block diagram of the current regulator for the grid connected
of the DC voltage UDC1, the semiconductors switching converter.
frequency fs, and the THDi, it is possible to calculate the
filtering inductance Lg [14]: To size the current controllers, the association of the
modulator and the converter is represented as a first order
U DC1 U DC1 model with gain Kdg and an average delay Tdg, usually assumed
Lg = = (3)
4 Δi g f s 8 3 I g1RMS THDi f s as one half of the switching period [16]. The gain is
Kdg=UDC1/ucmax, where ucmax represents the maximum amplitude
In order to assure voltage source characteristics in the of the triangular carrier in the PWM. The PI controller Cig(s) is:
converters, it is necessary to use filtering capacitors C1 and C2
to guarantee nearly constant UDC1 and UDC2 voltages. From the sTzg + 1 K iig
energy stored in the capacitors it is possible to calculate the Cig (s ) = = K pig + (8)
sT pg s
capacitor values, where P0=Pbat/3 and Pbat represents the power
 Considering that the zero of the PI compensator (8) cancels 2.15 C1 α ig C1 α ig
the pole introduced by the grid filter, then Tzg=Lg/RT, where Lg K pv1 = 2
K iv1 = 3 2
(15)
is the value of the filtering inductance and RT represents the 1.75 α v Gi Tdv1 1.75 α v Gi Tdv 1
equivalent resistance in the connection point to the grid [14].
C. Current control of the converter connected to the battery
K dg
α ig The block diagram of the battery charging current is
i g (s ) Tdg T pg RT represented in figure 7, where αi is the current sensor gain:
= (9)
i g _ ref (s ) 1 K dg
s2 + s + α ig K ii KD
Tdg Tdg T pg RT
s sTdi + 1
The closed loop transfer function (9) is obtained from Fig.
5. Then, comparing the denominator of (9) with the
denominator of a 2nd order transfer function written in the Fig. 7. Block diagram of the current regulator in the converter connected to
canonical form, it is possible to obtain Tpg [14], and gains the battery.
Kpig=Tzg/Tpg and Kiig=1/Tpg.
From (6), the displacement angle δ between the
2
4ξ Tdg K dg α ig fundamental component of voltage Vs and voltage VHF allows
T pg = (10) the power flow regulation to/from the battery. Then, the gain
RT can be determined:

B. Control of DC link voltage UDC1 Vs1RMS VHF1RMS

KD = (16)
To ensure proper operation of the system it is necessary to 2 π f s LHF U DC 2
control the DC capacitors voltage [17]. The diagram block of
each voltage regulator is represented in Fig. 6, where αv1 From Fig. 7, the closed loop transfer function is obtained:
represents the gain of the voltage sensor:
K ii K D
αi
K iv1 Gi α ig 1 i2 (s ) Tdi
K pv1 + = (17)
s Tdv1 s + 1 sC1 i2ref (s ) 2 1 K K
s +s + α i ii D
Tdi Tdi

Fig. 6. Block diagram of the voltage regulator.

Comparing the denominator of (17) with the denominator
of a 2nd order transfer function, the integral gain of the
The current controlled converter is represented by: compensator is calculated.

ir (s ) G 1 K ii =
1
(18)
≈ i (11)
irref (s ) α ig sTdv1 + 1 2
4 ξ Tdi K D α i

The gain of the current controller Gi is obtained from the D. Voltage control in the converter connected to the battery
active power constraint Vg Ig/2 = UDC1 IDC1, where Vg is the grid
voltage amplitude [14]. To guarantee that the maximum battery voltage is not
exceeded, it is necessary to control the voltage in the capacitor.
Vg The block diagram of the voltage regulator with internal
Gi ≈ (12) current regulator is represented in Fig. 8, where αv is the
2 U DC1 voltage sensor gain.
The closed loop transfer function is obtained from Fig. 6.
K 1 αi 1
K pv2 + iv 2
α v Gi K pv1 + s K iv1 s Tdv 2 s + 1 sC2

U DC1 α ig Tdv1 C1
= (13)
U DC1ref 1 α v i K pv1
G α G K
s3 + s 2 +s + v i iv1 Fig. 8. Block diagram of the voltage regulator in the converter connected to
Tdv1 α ig Tdv1 C1 α ig Tdv1 C1 the battery.

Comparing the denominator of (13) with the canonic form To size the voltage controller, the current controlled system
of a third order polynomial (14), the compensator gains (15) can be represented by the following transfer function:
are obtained:
i2 (s ) 1 1
P3 (s ) = s 3 + 1.75 ωo s 2 + 2.15 ωo2 s + ω3o (14) ≈ (19)
i2 ref (s ) αi sTdv 2 + 1
 The closed loop transfer function is similar to the one From the results presented in Fig. 10, the proposed system
obtained in (14), and the gains of the PI compensator are: fulfills the main goal, guaranteeing fast charging - less than 30
minutes to increase the battery SOC (Fig. 10a) from 20% to
2.15 C2 αi C2 α i 80%. From Fig. 10b, the current in the battery, Ibat initially is
K pv = 2
Kiv = 3 2
(20) 125A but, as the SOC increases the current decreases so that
1.75 α v Tdv 2 1.75 α v Gi Tdv 2 the battery voltage (Fig. 10c) does not exceed its maximum
value, meeting the desired requirements.
E. Supervisor of the battery charger 100

To guarantee the correct operation of the whole system, 80

additional conditions were considered.

SOC [%]
60

a) In G2V mode: 40

• if the battery SOC is lower than 85%, the battery 20

charges; 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

• if the SOC is higher than 85% and the charging t [s] a)

150
current Ibat is lower than 0.1A, the supervisor gives
order to turn-off the main battery switch Sbat and
all the semiconductors.
100

Ibat [A]
b) In V2G mode: 50

• if the battery SOC is higher than 20%, the battery

injects power in the grid; 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
t [s] b)
• if the SOC is lower than 20%, the supervisor 500

gives order to turn-off the main battery switch Sbat 400

and all the semiconductors. 300
Vbat [V]

200
IV. OBTAINED RESULTS
100
The proposed fast charger was tested in
MATLAB/Simulink, considering that he HFTs are operated at 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

10kHz, and have unitary turns ratio. The filter values are:
Lg=2.8mH, C1=15.7mF, LHF=46μH, C2=1.4mH, L2=22.2μH,
considering UDC1=400V and UDC2=410V.
A. Model of the Battery
The values of the equivalent EV battery used in the
simulation model are presented in table II.
t [s] c)
Fig. 9. a) Battery voltage b) Battery current c) Battery SOC.
Figure 10 shows that the grid current, ig (represented in red)
is nearly in phase with the grid voltage Vg (Vg/2 represented in
black), ensuring nearly unitary power factor. The THDi of the
grid current is lower than 1%.
200

100
TABLE II. BATTERY CHARACTERISTICS
Vg/2 [V], Ig [A]

Maximum capacity 73.5 Ah 0

Nominal capacity 70 Ah -100

Nominal voltage 355.2 V
Maximum charge voltage 410 V -200
0.1 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15 0.16 0.17 0.18 0.19 0.2

Internal resistance 83.25 mΩ t [s]

Fig. 10. Grid current Ig (red) and voltage Vg/2 (black) in G2V operation.

However, due to very long simulation times, to allow full

charging and discharging cycles, the battery characteristics
(maximum capacity and nominal capacity) were adjusted so
that 1 second in the simulation corresponds to 1 hour in real
time.
B. Scenario 1 – G2V operation
In this scenario, the system operates as a fast charger with a
maximum current of 125A, while the voltage is limited to the
maximum charge voltage (table II).
C. Scenario 2 – V2G operation
In this scenario, it is assumed that the battery is fully
charged when it starts injecting power in the grid (Fig. 11a). To
test this operation mode the current supplied by the battery is
set to a constant value, Ibat = 70A (Fig. 11b).
From the obtained results, the battery is able to supply the
requested current for approximately 50 minutes. At t ≈ 0.84s
the current in the battery becomes zero. This happens because
the system supervisor has established 20% as the minimum
SOC, to prevent the battery from discharging completely.
 Regarding the battery voltage, it decreases while the battery The proposed charger allows V2G operation, and the
is discharging, as expected. When it stops discharging, its value current supplied by the battery can be controlled. In the
increases, as shown in Fig. 11c. connection to the grid, nearly unitary power factor is
100 guaranteed, and the grid current THD is lower than 5% which
80
is bounded by the values defined in international standards.
SOC [%]

60
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
40
This work was supported by national funds through
20
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) with reference
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 UID/CEC/50021/2013.
t [s] a)
20
REFERENCES
0
[1] K. Bevis, A. Smyth, and S. Walsh, “Plugging the gap – can planned
-20
infrastructure address resistance to adoption of electric vehicles?,”
Ibat [A]

-40 European Transport Conf., pp. 1-21, Frankfurt, Germany, Oct. 2013.
[2] Z. Luo, C. Liang, F. Wang, Y. Xu, J. Chen, D. Liu, H. Sun, H. Yang,
-60
and X. Fan “Optimizing main materials for a lithium-air battery of high
-80 cycle life”, Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 24, no. 14, pp. 2101-
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
t [s] b) 2105, Apr. 2014.
500 [3] K. Rajashekara, “Present status and future trends in electric vehicle
400
propulsion technologies”, IEEE J. Emerging Sel. Topics Power
Electron., vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 3-10, Mar. 2013.
300
[4] Z. Shahan, ”Electric Cars 2015 – Prices, Efficiency, Range, Pics, More,”
Vbat [V]

200 consulted in March 2015 in http://evobsession.com

100
[5] B. Berman, “Detailed List of Electric Cars and Plug-in Hybrids”,
consulted in March 2015 in http://www.plugincars.com
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 [6] M. Yilmaz, and P. Krein, “Review of battery charger topologies,
t [s] c) charging power levels, and infrastructure for plug-in electric and hybrid
vehicles,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 2151-2169,
Fig. 11. a) Battery SOC b) Battery current c) Battery voltage
May 2013.
[7] M Kesler, M. Kisacikoglu, L. Tolbert, “Vehicle to grid reactive power
Figure 12 shows that the grid current, ig (represented in red) operation using plug-in electric vehicle bidirectional offboard charger,”
is out of phase with the grid voltage Vg, ensuring nearly unitary IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 61, no.12, pp. 6778-6784, Dec. 2014.
power factor. When the battery SOC reaches 20% all the [8] E. Sortomme, M. A. El-Sharkawi, “Optimal Combined Bidding of
semiconductors are turned OFF and the grid currents become Vehicle-to-Grid Ancillary Services,” IEEE Trans. Smart Grid, vol.3, no.
zero. While injecting power in the grid, the current THD is 1, pp. 70-79, Mar. 2012.
around 4%, clearly within the limits defined by international [9] Standard IEC 61851, “Electric vehicle conductive charging system –
standards [10], TDD < 5%. Part 1: General requirements”, 2010.
[10] Standard IEEE 1547, “Standard for Interconnecting Distributed
200 Resources with Electric Power Systems”, Jul. 2003
100
[11] W. Shen, “Design of high-density transformers for high-frequency high-
power converters”, Phd Thesis, Virginia Polyt. Inst., Blacksburg,
Vg/2 [V], Ig [A]

0 Virginia, Jul. 2006.

[12] P. V. Mendes, S. F. Pinto, and J. F. Silva, Modular Matrix Converter
-100
Based Solid State Transformer for smart grids, Elect. Power Syst.
Research, Elsevier, vol. 136, pp. 189-200, Jul. 2016.
-200
0.8 0.81 0.82 0.83 0.84 0.85
t [s]
0.86 0.87 0.88 0.89 0.9
[13] G. Waltrich, J. L. Duarte, and M. Hendrix, “Multiport converter for fast
charging of electrical vehicle battery”, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 48,
Fig. 12. Grid current Ig (red) and voltage Vg/2 (black) in V2G operation. no. 6, Nov./Dec. 2012.
[14] S. Pinto, J. F. Silva, F. Silva, and P. Frade, “Design of a virtual lab to
evaluate and mitigate power quality problems introduced by
V. CONCLUSIONS microgeneration”, in "Electrical Generation and Distribution Systems
In this paper a compact modular fast EV charging system and Power Quality Disturbances", Ed. Gregorio Romero, Ch. 8, pp. 185-
206, Intech, 2011.
allowing G2V and V2G operation was proposed. The charger
[15] S. F. Pinto, J. F. Silva, and S. Lopes, “Smart microgeneration systems
presents a high modularity and lower operation DC voltages. for Power Quality improvement”, IREE - Intern. Rev. Elect. Eng., vol. 5,
The galvanic isolation was guaranteed using high frequency no. 6, pp. 2723-2735, Nov. 2011.
transformers. [16] J. F. Silva, and S. F. Pinto, “Advanced control of switching power
converters,” in Power Electronics Handbook, 3rd ed., Ch. 36, M. Rashid
The obtained results have shown that the proposed charger et al, Ed. Butterworth Heinemann, Elsevier, pp. 1037–1114, 2011.
allows fast charging (30 minutes to increase the SOC from [17] S. Pinto, and J. Silva, “Constant frequency sliding mode and PI linear
20% to 80%), nearly unitary power factor and minimum controllers for power rectifiers: a comparison,” IEEE Trans. Ind.
harmonic impact in the connection to the grid (THDi<5%). Electron., vol. 46, no.1, pp.39-51, Feb. 1999.