The Influence of Electric Vehicle Penetration on Distribution Transformer Ageing Rate and Performance

Electric Vehicles (EVs) would be replaced with the fossil-fuel based car in the near future due to their less pollution. However, a high ratio of the EV penetration into the power system network may significantly increase the power demand and affect the performance of the distribution section components, specifically transformers. The purpose of this research work is to analyze how charging the EVs will influence the thermal performance of the oil-filled distribution transformer in power system network. Transformer thermal mathematical model is developed and different EV penetration scenarios are introduced and simulated. Each penetration scenario shows how a certain level of the EV connection affects the lifetime of the transformer. The obtained simulation results are quite crucial for assessing the ability of the currently exploited distribution transformers to feed EVs based on the three criteria: load limit, ageing rate and transformer life loss.