Advantages and Applications of Vehicle to Grid Mode
of Operation in Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles
M. El Chehaly, Student Member, IEEE, Omar Saadeh, Student Member, IEEE,
C. Martinez, Student Member, IEEE, G. Joos, Fellow, IEEE
Department of Electrical Engineering
McGill University
Montreal, Canada
Abstract — Reduction in green house gas emissions,
increase in oil prices and dependency on foreign oil are
major incentives to the development and deployment of
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The plug-in hybrid electric
vehicle fleet is expected to increase the base electric load
and add constraints on the reliable operation of a power
system. However, equipped with bidirectional battery
chargers, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles offer the power
grid a flexible load, known as vehicle to grid mode of
operation, capable of contributing to power system
operations by supplying ancillary services. This paper
gives an overview of the state of the art in battery
technologies and charger requirements. The advantages
and requirement for operating in vehicle to grid mode is
presented. Alleviation of wind generation and
improvement of short-term voltage stability are some of
the potential benefits of the vehicle to grid mode.
Index Terms – Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Voltage
Stability, Wind Energy, Ancillary Services
I. INTRODUCTION
Reduction in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, increase
in oil prices, and dependency on foreign oil are major
incentives to the development and deployment of Hybrid
Electric Vehicles (HEV) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
(PHEV). Compared with conventional vehicles, HEV and
PHEV generate considerably low noise, green house gas and
ozone-precursor emissions. However, unlike HEV, PHEV
offers the vehicle owner the flexibility of charging the on-
board battery. Therefore, it allows the combustion engine to
operate within its optimal efficiency range for longer periods
which in return would increase fuel savings [1].
Utilities reports indicate that the transmission and
distribution networks are capable of handling early penetration
levels of PHEV. In [2], the impact of 500MW penetration of
PHEV in the Manitoba power system was studied. The added
load did not require additional peak generation. However,
accommodating medium to high level of penetration of PHEV
presents a significant challenge, Table 1., since the equivalent
electric load is relatively high compared to the generation
The authors are with the department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering at McGill University. Email contacts:
mohamed.elchehaly@mail.mcgill.ca;omar.saadeh@mail.mcgill.ca;
carlos.martinez2@mail.mcgill.ca; geza.joos@mcgill.ca ;
2009 IEEE Electrical Power & Energy Conference
978-1-4244-4509-7/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE
levels in some provinces. The idea is to charge the PHEV fleet
during off-peak periods in order to minimize additional
transmission, distribution and peak generation investments.
The charging profile leads to an increase in base load with a
large portion of the night load being a constant power load due
to the control characteristics of the onboard power electronics
battery charger. It is feared that large penetration levels of
PHEV would reduce system wide reliability as a result of a
reduction in system reserve capacity. In addition, the absence
of low load periods adds additional constraints on the delivery
limits since cooling periods of transformers and lines would
significantly be reduced [3,4].
In [5], it is suggested that control and operation of PHEV as
distributed storage would allow for higher wind penetration
onto the power system. The objectives of this paper are
twofold: 1) to investigate the advantages of Vehicle to Grid
(V2G) operation of the PHEV on the short term voltage
stability and 2) exploit the PHEV fleet in order to improve the
profile of wind generation. Section II summarizes ongoing
research in PHEV technologies. Section III discusses the
available battery technologies. Section IV discusses the vehicle
on-board battery charger requirements. Section V presents the
benchmarks used, simulations tests and results of the proposed
work.
Table 1. Estimated PHEV electric load
Canada Quebec Ontario
No of Vehicles 27,577,524 6,875,649 9,990,267
10% penetration (GVA) 8.27 2.06 3
50% penetration (GVA) 41.37 10.31 14.99
100% penetration (GVA) 82.73 20.63 29.97
II. PHEV RESEARCH
Manitoba Hydro is currently monitoring its PHEV fleet in
order to test PHEV performance during all four seasons, study
the impacts of PHEV fleet on the electricity supply system and
investigate the performance of the V2G mode of operation.
Statistics show that vehicles are parked almost 90% of the
time [6]. Photovoltaic panels are proposed as means to charge
the onboard battery of a PHEV [7]. During parked periods,
PHEV can supply the utility with ancillary services in Table 2. PHEV Battery Requirements
exchange for monetary profits. Typical ancillary services Range (km) 32 64
include grid regulation, spinning reserves, source of energy, Max. Weight (Kg) 120 120
peak shaving and voltage support [8]. The V2G mode requires Peak Power (kW) 65 50
large investments in communication infrastructure, aggregator,
Power Density (W/kg) 540 400
smart metering, GPS systems and protective devices. The
communication infrastructure added cost can be attributed to Storage Capacity (kWh) 6 12
the deployment of smart grid applications. Utilities could Energy Density (Wh/kg) 50 75
benefit from controlling and operating PHEV as distributed A. Nickel Metal Hybrid Battery
storage in order to improve wind generation profile.
In [6], the study indicates that the use of PHEV’s V2G A five cars field test, performed by EPRI, have proven that
mode for base load generation was found economically Nickel Metal Hybrid(NiMH) batteries lifetimes exceed five
inefficient. Economic potential of V2G mode of operation was years and are expected to meet the 130,000 – 150,000 mile
calculated for three power markets: peak power, spinning vehicle life time requirements due to improvements in charge
reserves and regulation services. It is concluded that regulation acceptance and retention at high temperatures [16]. However,
services is the most profitable for PHEV owners followed by NiMH technologies still faces significant challenges before
spinning reserve and finally peak shaving services [6]. reaching large scale deployment due to the battery relatively
In [9], a series-parallel PHEV with an all electric driving large weight and volume and insufficient power/energy
range of 35 miles is developed. The installed charger, rated at performance compared with alternative solutions.
20kW, allows bi-directional power flow. Safety systems are B. Lithium Ion Battery
employed to avoid feeding power to the grid in the absence For the same specifications, Li-Ion batteries are
of grid voltage. Distributed generation is demonstrated by considerably lighter than NiMH ones. But, although Li-Ion
feeding external loads and/or feeding the grid. The vehicle batteries meet the requirements of PHEV batteries, deep
uses natural gas to charge the battery or feed the grid when cycling capabilities of these batteries are yet to be proven. The
parked. major challenges with Li-Ion batteries are high capital cost,
In [10], a wireless web based aggregator is developed. The energy and temperature management, and, at this stage of
user inputs preferences using a web based interface. Control development, absence of field validation data proving deep
commands are defined manually and sent to the vehicle via the cycle capabilities.
aggregator every 4 seconds (California ISO requirements).
EPRI’s actively leading research and development program, IV. BATTERY CHARGER REQUIREMENTS
with automotive industries as well as electric utilities, to
There are different levels of battery chargers depending on
develop V2G interface and investigate its performance, deploy
the application and the connection. Charger types include
fast charging stations, implement intelligent PHEV recharge,
residential charger (typically single-phase or phase-to-phase)
load management and communication infrastructure.
and rapid charger [20]. The latter allows unidirectional power
Research objectives also include [11-15]:
flow and will not be discussed further in this work. Table 3.
• Assessing the near and long term impact of PHEV displays operating electrical range of different types of PHEV
grid recharging on existing and projected utility battery chargers.
infrastructure For residential charger applications, full charge is to be
• Planning and executing demonstration projects of achieved within 6 hours. However, for higher energy capacity
PHEVs fleet as Distributed Generation batteries, longer periods may be required. The charger must be
• Developing and evaluating grid-support safe, convenient and efficient [8]. Table 4. summarizes the
infrastructure application for PHEVs residential charger requirements. Operational requirements
• Smart metering include battery temperature management, cooling, converter
• Developing a test protocol for evaluating the deep control, communication means, diagnostic capabilities, vehicle
cycle life of PHEV batteries lifetime durability and a user friendly interface.
• Placing and operating a PHEV fleet in an electric
utility Table 3. Different Levels of PHEV Battery Chargers
Current Voltage Power
III. BATTERY TECHNOLOGIES PHEV Charger
(A) (Vac) (kW)
Energy storage capacity of current PHEV batteries may fall Single Phase Level 1 15 120 1.8
in the range of 15-20 kWh for a 60 km all electric driving
Single Phase Level 2 30 120 3.6
range [16,17]. PHEV batteries are required to have high power
capability and high energy density [18]. Typical battery Public Level 2 32 208 6.6
requirements for PHEV applications are shown in Table 2 Larger Residential 40 240 9.6
[16,19].
Public Level 3 80 208 16.6
 Table 4. Residential Charger Electrical Requirements
Min Max
Peak Power 2.4 kW 3-4 kW
ac Voltage 120 V 240 V
dc Voltage 280 V 450V
Efficiency 90% 95%
The state of charge (SOC) is the ratio between the actual
energy in the battery to the maximum capacity it can store
expressed in percentages. In order to extend the lifetime of the
battery, it is required that the SOC should not drop below
20%.
V. VEHICLE TO GRID
The V2G mode of operation allows the PHEV fleet to
operate as a load, distributed storage or standalone energy
source. Careful consideration must be taken while discharging
the on-board battery as the depth of discharge has an impact
on the life expectancy of the battery. However, the PHEV fleet
is quite large and thus if a portion of the stored energy of a
single vehicle could be taped while parked, it would provide
the power system large amounts of energy at a given point in
the day. This section discusses the benefits of operating PHEV
as distributed storage.
A. Electric Utility Benefits
The stored battery energy can be used to serve a portion of
the local demand on a feeder thus contributing to peak
shaving. Secondary advantages of peak shaving include
reducing transmission congestion, line losses, delay
transmission investments and reduce stressed operation of a
power system. In a deregulated market, load serving entities
purchase electric energy through long-term contracts with
generation companies and short-run spot electricity markets.
During periods of high demand or peak load periods, the
electricity prices reach their highest. Peak shaving applications
of PHEV fleet reduces the cost of electricity during peak
periods. The avoided electricity purchase could be used to
develop incentive programs to promote the purchase of PHEV
and their use for grid support applications.
PHEVs offer the power system with a flexible controllable
load and could provide load levelization during off-peak
periods.
B. Ancillary Services
The ability of PHEV to provide ancillary services leads to a
more stable operation of the power system, a reduction in the
operation of protection relays and possibly a reduction of the
impact of some contingencies. Although these services can be
attributed to improving social welfare, the extended service of
demand will increase the yearly load payment. PHEV can
either be deployed as a power supply or as a load in order to
regulate the frequency.
C. Communication Requirements
Aggregation of PHEV resources is essential in order to
provide ancillary services. Furthermore, exchange in the
transmitted information between individual PHEV and their
local aggregator and between aggregators and the Independent
System Operator (ISO) is necessary to better manage the
operation of the power system. In [21], a wireless
communication network is suggested with ability to expand on
demand. Fig. 1. displays the communication network and the
data exchange between different components of the network.
Fig. 1. Aggregator Function and Communication Network Layout
Where Pref and Qref are the individual PHEV real and
reactive power reference. Pref,T and Qref,T are the total real
and reactive power reference generated by the ISO. S.N is the
serial number of a PHEV. Pout and Qout are the real and
reactive power output of a PHEV. SOC is the state of charge
and SOCT is the total energy at a local aggregator.
VI. VOLTAGE STABILITY
Voltage stability is the capability of power system to restore
bus voltages following a disturbance [22]. Short-term voltage
stability often involves detailed modeling of the dynamics of
the system with emphasis on load dynamics [23]. Large-
disturbance voltage stability consists of how the system is able
to restore bus voltages following a contingency (such as line
faults or generator tripping).
This section studies the contribution of the PHEV,
operating as a power supply, on the short-term voltage
stability of a power system. Modeling PHEV is crucial at this
stage because it will have an impact on how its penetration
will affect the stability of the system. PHEV is connected to
the system through a power electronic interface and therefore
will be modeled as a constant current load [24].
A. Methodology
A short-term voltage stability index (SVSIbase) is defined as
the difference between the pre-fault voltage load bus and the
minimum fault voltage multiplied by the load apparent power
for all load buses N. SVSIbase is used as a contingency ranking
index where the one with highest value is associated with the
most severe contingency.
 N B. Time Domain Simulations Results
SVSI base = ∑ ΔVi (S L,i ) (1) The first test case is the IEEE RTS-96 24 bus system
depicted in Fig. 2. The active peak load is 2,850 MW. There
i =1
With are 17 load buses and 34 transmission lines [25].
ΔV = V0 − Vmin A three-phase fault is applied at the line between bus 14 and
bus 16. The fault is cleared by tripping the line after 12 cycles.
High presence of PHEV can reduce short-term voltage
SVSIbase is found to be around 1206 V-MVA.
stability index (i.e: increases low voltage levels). The index
Table 5 shows all the SVSIDG of aggregated PHEV with
should include the PHEV penetration as follows:
unity power factor and connected to each load bus. A 5%
N
penetration level is considered. All SVSIDG are lower than
SVSI DG = ∑ ΔVi (S L,i − S DG,i ) (2) SVSIbase and therefore, operating the PHEV fleet as a power
i =1 source improves the short-term voltage stability of the system.
The apparent power SDG of PHEV is defined as: The real power of PHEV at bus 18 is higher than the one at
2 2 (3) bus 14, but the SVSIdiff at bus 18 is lower than the one at bus
S DG = PDG + Q DG
14,
With Table 5. This indicates that the size of the aggregated PHEV
PDG = p PL is not the only factor that affects the short-term voltage

Q DG =
PDG
PF
(
sin cos −1 (PF ) ) stability; the location plays an important role as well.
PDG and QDG represent the real and reactive power of the
aggregated PHEVs connected at a load bus. p is the
penetration level of PHEV defined in percentage and
multiplied by the load power PL. Most utilities allow
distributed generation (DG) to operate at different power
factors (PF) within a certain margin. With a leading power
factor, PHEV absorb reactive power and therefore QDG is
negative.
The difference between the two indices defined in Eq. 1 and
in Eq. 2 show the contribution of PHEV on the short-term
voltage stability:
SVSI diff = SVSI base − SVSI DG (4)
The contribution of each aggregated PHEV (SVSIdiff) is
shown in Fig. 3 with three different power factors (unity, 0.9
lagging and 0.9 leading). It is noticed that in most cases when
PHEV is operating with a leading power factor, the short-term
voltage stability is improved. When generators operate at a
leading power factor, the terminal voltages are reduced which
leads to a reduction in the overall power flow. Therefore,
following a fault, voltage drops are less severe.
By adding all the SVSIdiff in
Table 5, an approximation of the impact of aggregated
PHEV connected at all load buses can be obtained. Table 6
shows the values obtained by adding all the SVSIdiff and
calculating the total impact with aggregated PHEV connected
at all load buses (SVSItot).

Table 5: SVSIDG of aggregated PHEV with unity power factor

connected at a load bus
Load Bus PDG SVSIDG SVSIdiff
Number (MW) (V-MVA) (V-MVA)
1 5.40 1203.67 2.543
2 4.85 1204.00 2.206
3 9 1201.87 4.336
4 3.7 1204.33 1.883
5 3.55 1204.40 1.813
6 6.8 1202.32 3.891
7 6.25 1203.69 2.519
8 8.55 1202.14 4.070
9 8.75 1201.62 4.594
10 9.75 1200.79 5.417
13 13.25 1200.08 6.134
14 9.7 1198.13 8.080
15 15.85 1200.37 5.835
16 5 1204.23 1.978
18 16.65 1200.73 5.478
19 9.05 1202.81 3.399
Fig. 2. IEEE RTS96 24-bus test system 20 6.4 1203.90 2.312
 12 Lagging PF
Unity PF
Leading PF
10

8
SVSIdiff

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Load Buses Fig. 4. Medium voltage test system
Fig. 3. SVSIdiff of PHEV at each load bus and with different power
factor

Table 6: Comparison between SVSItot and the sum of all SVSIdiff

N
PDG (MW) SVSItot ∑ SVSI
j =1
diff j

142.5 64.86942 66.48872

An error of less than 3% is obtained by comparing the two

values and therefore the approximation can be considered as
valid. A system operator can then approximate the
contribution of any set of multiple aggregated PHEV.
VII. IMPROVING WIND GENERATION PROFILE
Fig. 5. Reduction in wind power variability using PHEV
The second test case is the medium voltage test facility,
Fig. 4., which consists of a radial 25 kV line with 300 kW of
resistive, inductive and motor loads. This distribution
benchmark is used to study the potential of PHEV to reduce
the variability in decentralized wind generation.
A. Test Case Setup
The Base Case of the power system is modeled as a sub-
circuit of a main electric grid. The feeder voltage level is 125
kV. A 200 meter distribution line connects the feeder to the
loads. An induction motor emulates an industrial facility with
large power demands. Residential loads are modeled as
constant shunt impedances. Wind generation is rated at 375
kW and connected close to residential loads. An aggregated 20
PHEV vehicles are modeled as a battery, with 60 % initial
state of charge, and a converter. The vehicles are connected Fig. 6. Real power at the feeder with and without PHEV
electrically close to the industrial loads.
VIII. CONCLUSION
B. Simulations Results
The paper presents an overview on current PHEV research,
The main objective is to regulate the wind generation
battery technologies, battery charger requirements and the
profile in order to reduce the variability of the distribution
concept of V2G. Applications of aggregated PHEV include
feeder power. A 0.5 pu reference power is used as wind
peak shaving, load levelization and frequency regulation.
generation regulation set-point. Measurements are fed to the
This paper concentrates on the benefits of aggregated
local PHEV controller (PI controller).
PHEV on the short-term voltage stability. A short-term
Fig. 5. displays the wind power (Pw), PHEV fleet power
voltage stability index is implemented to study the impact of
(PPHEV) and their sum (PTOTAL). Fig. 6. shows that the
aggregated PHEV when supplying power. High penetration of
integration of PHEV helps in reducing the impact of
PHEV can improve the short-term voltage stability by
variability of wind generation on distribution feeders.
reducing voltage dips following a fault. Voltage dips are
further reduced when PHEV absorb reactive power. The
impact of aggregated PHEV connected at multiple buses can
be estimated by adding the short-term voltage stability indices
of aggregated PHEV connected at each bus.
This paper focuses also on using aggregated PHEV to
alleviate wind generation variability. PHEV can be considered
as storage system. The PHEV fleet power is controlled in
order to preserve a constant power at the feeder when wind
generation is connected nearby.
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