Economic Analysis of Photovoltaic Electricity Supply for an Electric Vehicle Fleet in Shenzhen, China

ABSTRACT This article presents a feasibility analysis on photovoltaic (PV)-powered electric vehicles (EVs) by considering the technological and economic aspects involved. The analysis is based on the fact that EVs can provide energy storage capacity to efficiently utilize the intermittent electricity output of a PV system, thus reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Four models of power supply systems are assessed based on net present cost, cost of energy, and carbon emission intensity. The renewable energy optimization software HOMER is used to optimize costs of energy and carbon emission, with the outcome of energy cost ranging from $0.204/kWh to $0.372/kWh for the PV-powered EVs. Although the energy cost of PV-powered EVs is higher than that of grid-connected ones ($0.150/kWh), GHG emissions can be reduced by 47%–78%. The four models may be applicable in different development stages of EVs in China. In the short term, grid-connected EVs have cost advantages, however, considering such factors as the imposition of future carbon tax, increasing electricity supply cost and decreasing price of PV components and batteries, PV-powered EVs could dominate the EV landscape in the near future. Furthermore, our sensitivity analyses also show that the PV power sellback rate and interest rate contribute significantly to the cost of energy and can be used as policy tools to accelerate the development of transportation systems that generate low carbon emissions.

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