Modeling and Protection of Electric Vehicle Charging
Station
Ganta Naveen Tony Ho-Tung Yip
School of Electrical Sciences School of Electrical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU)
Bhubaneswar, India. Beijing, China.
ng10@iitbbs.ac.in htyip@bjtu.edu.cn
Abstract — An Electric Vehicle Charging Station (EVCS) for
fast DC charging of multiple Electric Vehicles (EVs)
simultaneously is studied in this paper. A brief insight is put into
the modeling aspects of EVCS in order to explain the control and
stability of DC bus voltage in spite of varying load. Possible faults
that generally occur on DC side are discussed. Faults of various
fault impedances have been introduced at various fault locations
of EVCS and corresponding effects on EVs are analyzed. Short
comparison has been carried out distinguishing the advantages
and disadvantages of DC bus over AC counterpart. An
appropriate protection strategy has been suggested and put to
use in order to alleviate the faults, mainly to ensure safe charging
of EVs connected. All the simulations are performed in
MATLAB®/Simulink and results show feasibility of proposed
model. A scope for further improving the proposed model has
been discussed for research purpose.
Keywords—Electrical vehicle, Protection of DC systems, DC
bus, Bi-directional DC-DC converter.
I. INTRODUCTION
With the growing pollution problems, greenhouse effects
and increasing prices of the petroleum products, the transport
sector has paved its way to the use of Electric Vehicles (EVs).
Large scale use of EVs requires an increase in number and
complexities of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations within
distribution network. An understanding of charging station
configuration and its fault behaviors is important in order to
develop a comprehensive protection system. Great research has
been going on in various fields in order to improve EVs [1]-
[3]. Technologies like Vehicle to Grid (V2G) and Vehicle to
Base (V2B) are developing in a faster way further increasing
the use of EVs than Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) based
vehicles. This paper models a typical electric vehicle DC
charging station using MATLAB®/Simulink, studies the fault
characteristics and then proposes a protection strategy for the
same.
Before going directly into the modeling part, the following
is a brief comparison between general AC charging and fast
DC charging of EVs [4].
A. AC charging
• Level 1: Charging from ordinary household outlet may
take around 20-22 hours.
Yuyu Xie
School of Electrical Engineering
Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU)
Beijing, China.
13121483@bjtu.edu.cn
• Level 2: 20 kW chargers ensure fast charging in, say
around few to several hours. This is a common way
found in commercial charging stations. The benefit of
this type of charging is that most commercial and urban
areas would not need to make big changes to their
power infrastructure.
B. DC charging
There are two types of DC fast charging stations namey
SAE combo (The Society for Automotive Engineers) and
CHAdeMO chargers which can give a car an 80% charge
in just 15-30 minutes. DC charging can also be classified
as following based on voltage and current rating.
• Level 1: 200/450 V, up to 36kW (80A).
• Level 2: 200/450 V, up to 90kW (200A).
• Level 3: 200/450 V, up to 240kW (400A).
In the following sections, aspects regarding charging of
EVs are discussed in detail along with modeling in Simulink.
In section II, modeling of an EVCS [5] is explained briefly
involving various elements used in control systems and
converters. Section III explains the effect of faults introduced
at various fault locations on EVCS. Section IV deals with the
protection strategy employed in identifying the faults and its
effect in ensuring the safety of EVs connected for charging.
Section V includes the conclusion and possible ways in
improving the proposed model.
II. MODELING OF EVCS
The source for EVCS is three phase AC supply from the
grid. A centralized conversion from AC to DC is done with the
help of an inverter which is interfaced with LC filters and
transformer. Appropriate DC bus capacitances are placed on
the DC side in order to stabilize the DC bus voltage during
sudden and high load demands. The main part of EVCS is the
DC bus where all the EVs are connected for charging. As the
EVs connected to the DC bus may be of different voltage and
current ratings, a de-centralized DC-DC conversion scheme is
implemented to meet their individual requirements. The vital
driving force behind the centralized AC-DC and de-centralized
DC-DC converters are the control strategies which are
discussed in brief in following sections. The control systems
are mainly to ensure proper switching of ppower electronic
devices in these converters.
various points and vary the input parameters accordingly to
ensure output to meet the required set
s values.
• Inverter Control System
The control system used for inverter is a cascaded
wed by PWM generator to
control in dq frame follow
send the gating pulses to the switches in inverter to
maintain a constant DC C bus voltage. The main
function of each PI conttrol block is also labelled
accordingly as shown in Fiig.3.

Fig. 1.Modeled EVCS in MATLAB®/Simuulink

As in Fig. 1, there are a set of six battery bblocks connected

to the DC bus simultaneously for charging. T The contents of a
battery block/charger are explained and are shhown in Fig. 2.
A. LC filter Fig.3. Inverter Co
ontrol System

The main reason to implement the filter cirrcuit is to rule out • Battery Charger control syystem
harmonics which reduce the power factor annd interfere with There are two battery charging
c control strategies
proper operation of inverter by appearing as noise in control namely ‘constant current’ and ‘constant voltage’ by
circuit. Simple low pass filters attenuatte higher order which battery of an EV caan be charged. Generally it
harmonics. But removing 3rd and 5th order harmonics are a is advised to charge the baattery with constant current
challenge as the fundamental component is also partially strategy in the initial staages of charging and then
filtered out. The main purpose of using LC filters is to switch to constant voltag ge strategy so as to avoid
eliminate current harmonics that may arise between inverter sudden injection of high currents
c when connected to
and grid. Typically L filters are installed in bbetween grid and DC bus. In this paper co onstant current strategy is
inverter except for applications above several kW, as they used in the modelled EVCS S.
would then become too expensive, occupy large space and
have poor system dynamics. So in contrast,, LCL filters are
used as 3rd order low pass filters which offerr better harmonic
attenuation and small filter size.
B. Battery Charger
The battery charger consists of bi-direectional DC-DC
converter where buck and boost operationns are done by (a)
appropriately giving gate pulses to switchees present in the
inverter. The control signal to connect batteery to DC bus is
also shown in Fig. 2.
(b)
Fig.4. (a) Constant current
c strategy,
(b) Constant volttage strategy

Fig. 2.Battery block of modelled EVCS
S simultaneous charging of up to six EVs. The constant current
C. Control Systems
The control systems play an important rolee in the modeling
of any system. They monitor the working of a system at
D. Battery Model
Battery block in Simulink is assumed to be the battery of
EV in this model [6]. One can also use the model represented
in [7] so as to replicate the charracteristics of EV battery.
Thevenin model of battery may also
o be used for the same.
The following is the plot showinng DC bus stable at 1400V
and other parameters of a baattery of EVCS during
for charging is set to be 200A and nominal
n voltage is set to be
around 400V for all the EVs and the same can be seen in all
the battery related waveforms that follow.
f
 (a)
Before continuing onto faults annalysis, the pros and cons of
having a DC bus system is discussed in brief.
The DC systems will reduce the nu umber of conversion stages
required for integrating a loweer voltage output of an
intermittent generation resource to the
t electric grid operating at
a much higher voltage. More DC supply is offered than AC
system due to high average voltaage and also facilitates in
time (s)
(b) reduction of cable sizes. No losses like
l Skin effect and reactive
power loss exist and thus improve power transfer. Paralleling
nd no problem of frequency
of multiple resources is feasible an
regulation arises as in AC systems. Efficient
E interconnection of
distributed energy resources and sto orage systems are possible.
The DC voltage response has an ad dvantage of least dependent
on AC network conditions and con nfigurations. On the other
(c) time (s) side, design of high speed DC circcuit breakers with required
ratings is a challenge ahead as the tiimes identified to react to a
fault are much shorter for DC systemms than AC counterparts.
Voltage Source Converters (VSC) may experience internal
switch faults that can cause line to line
l short-circuit fault. This
is a terminal fault for a device that can’t
c be cleared and in most
cases it requires replacement off the device. Hence, DC
time (s) protection should be made to detectt over current conditions for
(d)
line-line and line-ground faults.

time (s)

Fig.5. Battery block Waveforms: (a) Battery cuurrent, (b) time (s)
Battery voltage, (c) Dc bus voltage and (d) SOC
C of Battery

III. FAULT ANALYSIS

Unlike traditional AC distribution systems, DC
distribution systems do not have years of praactical experience
and standards. Converters would shut themseelves up when in
case of a fault isolating the DC bus. There wwould be various time (s)
kinds of faults occurring both on AC side as well as DC side.
The faults that generally occur on DC sidee of such power
systems cause fast discharge of DC bus caapacitance which
may lead to under voltage conditions annd damages the
capacitors themselves due to drop down in vvoltage [8]. This
situation arises when proper value of DC buus capacitance is
not chosen. Generally, under voltage conditioons are followed
by over current conditions on AC side as the ccontrol system of time (s)
inverter tries to draw more power in order too compensate for
the under voltage on DC bus. Prolonged unatttended faults on
DC side may sometimes result in voltage reversals which
leads to the discharge of batteries connectedd to DC bus and
can also cause significant currents to flow thhrough converter
freewheeling diodes causing damage.
time (s)
Fig.7. Battery block waveform ms when 1mΩ phase-to-phase
fault is introduced at source

o drop down in the DC bus

Fig. 7 clearly shows that due to
voltage at t=0.15s due to introductiion of phase-to-phase fault
at source, the SOC of EV batteriees are falling down which
implies that batteries connected too DC bus are discharging

Fig. 6.Introducing fault at source to modelleed EVCS

with a faster rate. It is also observed that DC bus voltage is
stabilizing around 400V getting supplied bby EV Batteries.
More the number of EVs connected, sloweer is the rate of
discharge of each EV battery and faster the rate of attaining
stable DC bus voltage of range 400V (assigned nominal
voltage of each EV battery).
With the introduction of faults of varioous types and of
various impedances along different locationns of the EVCS
model, it is observed that fault currents are hhighly dependent
on fault impedance and location of occurrennce of fault. The
magnitude of fault current is high when fault iis close to source
and also when fault impedance is of low value. It is also
observed that the control system used, acts onn faults which are
of high impedance values and that are far ffrom source like
500mΩ fault at transformer. All the faultss are applied at
t=0.15s and last until t=0.25s while the EVs are connected to
DC bus for charging from t=0.1s to t=0.3s ass shown in all the
results.
IV. PROTECTION STRATEGY
Traditionally AC circuit breakers and fusees are being used
for protection against faults on DC systemss too. The main
reason being shorter response time, are also cheap compared
to DC counterparts. The AC protection deevices are more
familiar and a great research has been putt into them [9].
Protection against DC systems are challengiing due to lower
impedance in DC systems and fast develoopment of fault
current. Compared to AC systems, faults in VSC based DC
systems develop about ten times faster, dem manding a faster
response from protection devices.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 8.(a)Proposed fault protection scheme. ((b)Codes
associated with various protection deviices
y takes care of faults which
The proposed protection strategy
occur both on AC and DC side of thet EVCS as shown in Fig.
8 (a). The protection scheme [10] caan be separated into 3 parts
namely AC line, AC-DC conversion n and DC line.
The main protections that can be applied are under/over
voltage, over current and under/ov ver frequency on AC line,
under voltage and over current on n DC line. The relays and
other protection equipment are placced accordingly in modeled
EVCS depending on the possibility of occurrence of a fault.
Modeling of AC line and DC line protection schemes are
shown in Fig.9. Over current being b a major protection
function, an algorithm is also propposed based on which the
over current relay is built [11]. A Bi-Directional Transfer
Tripping (TT) signal is also em mployed which acts as a
precautionary measure to safe guaard the connected EVs in
disconnecting them from DC line in case of occurrence of
faults on AC line using commun nication channel. A mono-
directional TT can also be used innstead of bi-directional TT
where tripping signal is sent fromm AC line to DC line as
protection of EVs is of primary imp
portance.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 9.(a)AC line prottection system,
(b)DC line protecttion system,
(c)Algorithm used in buildinng over current relay
 The study and research on DC circuit bbreakers is in its
primitive stages. Power devices like IGBT, GTO and IGCT
can be used in making DC circuit breakers deepending on their
characteristics. IGBTs have fast interrupption, ability to
withstand short circuit currents and high coonduction losses.
GTOs have high blocking capability, low conduction losses
and low switching speeds where as IGCTs haave high turn-off
capability and lower switching speeds than IG
GBTs.
(a)
time (s)
time (s)
time (s)
time (s)
(b)
Fig. 10.(a) EVCS model with implemented pprotection
scheme, (b) Battery block waveforms after inntroducing
protection scheme
Fig. 10 shows the protection scheme as modeled in
Simulink together with the simulation rresults depicting
protection operation during 1mΩ phase-phase fault occurring
at source. Comparing the simulations resultss Fig. 7 and Fig.
10(b), it is clearly observed that the dischargee of EV battery is
arrested by the operation of under voltage relaay in DC line (in
this case particularly) protection sttrategy as soon as a phase-
to-phase fault is introduced at t=0 0.15s. And as soon as the
introduced fault is removed at t=0.225s, the charging process of
EV battery is continued.
V. POSSIBLE INCL
LUSIONS
Many improvements can be im mplemented for the better
working of EVCS model mentio oned above. Inclusion of
intermittent sources like PV arrays,, wind turbines and backup
energy storage resources to supply y for the charging of EVs
parallel to the present AC grid. Thiis increases the complexity
of control systems used in stabiliizing the central DC bus.
When renewable resources are used d to power up the DC bus,
anti-Islanding protection scheme is to be implemented to
detect the loss of supply when distrributed generator continues
to supply where the bus is denied supply from the grid. DC
systems are weak against high voltaage transients and faults are
to be identified and rectified at the
t earliest. So, protection
against high currents, high rate of
o change of voltages and
currents during faults are to be considered mainly when
installing a DC system. In order to increase the life time of
battery, it is advisable to limit the SOC of battery as
20% < SOC < 80% which will w protect battery from
overcharging and over discharging.
n be smoothened in order to
Voltage and current profiles can
avoid sudden change in voltages, cuurrents and frequency at the
initial stages of charging and disccharging of EVs. With the
growing use of DC networks, DC C bus can also be powered
from a MVDC network through prroper step down of voltage
levels [12]. And lastly, V2G technology can also be
implemented where EVs supply back to the grid in peak
hours.
With the increasing parallel systtems along the DC bus, the
need for better and faster way to locate and detect a fault is of
major importance. Fault location techniques like Travelling
Wave method can be implemented to locate and detect faults
on AC line. This method is known for its accuracy due to the
use of GPS system for time synch hronization but faces slight
problems due to two terminal meaasurements, high sampling
rate, errors in phasor measurementss and is also comparatively
expensive. Similarly for fault detecction on DC line, methods
like iterative estimation using reference voltages and artificial
neural networking based technolog gies can be used. But these
methods are not efficient due to communication
c delays and
most importantly the sudden rise in n DC fault currents make it
difficult to interrupt before any information
i is gathered to
detect the location of the fault. And when protection scheme is
designed for such parallel operatin ng systems, coordination of
protection devices are to be develloped such that the device
just upstream of the fault is to be protected
p and the operation
of other parallel devices shouldn’t be disturbed. The same is
elaborately explained in [8].
VI. CONCLUSSION
Modeling of an Electric Vehiclee Charging Station (EVCS)
is discussed in brief and is supporteed with required simulation
results. General faults that occur coommonly are introduced to
the modeled EVCS and the effects are studied to implement a
protection scheme that would allev viate all the possible faults
occurring both on AC side as well as DC side. Modeling of
protection strategy is also discussed as a whole. The responses
of protection scheme to various faults introduced are studied.
Lastly, few possible inclusions that would make the EVCS
work efficiently are proposed for further research.
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