Control and management of a multilevel electric vehicles infrastructure integrated with distributed resources: A comprehensive review

Abstract Internal combustion engine vehicles are gradually being replaced by environmentally-friendly electric vehicles (EV) all over the world. The increased penetration of electric vehicles imposes an increase in electricity demand, thus severely impacting the normal operation of power grids. Therefore, appropriate charging and discharging strategies should be implemented along with the utilization of renewable energy sources to achieve sustainability. The objective of this paper is to critically review the recent literature related to the multilevel control and management of electric vehicles integrated with distributed generators and renewable sources in a microgrid system. A comprehensive study of a global controller to achieve coordination between multi-level aggregators and their benefits are also discussed. The optimized techniques of a microgrid energy management system with centralized, distributed, and decentralized control approaches are discussed. Also, the potential conflicts and synergies of substation, feeder, and microgrid level control are explained to differentiate the individual level controller role during control and management of multi-level EV infrastructure. Towards the end, a synoptic overview is presented to depict the research trend and to emphasize the electric vehicle aggregator's requirement and security issues in the communication network. Furthermore, the research gaps perceived during the review phase are reported and discussed to leverage on future research in the field.