Electric Vehicle Household Charging Behaviour in Ireland and Aims for a Carbon Neutral Electric Fleet by 2020

Due to limitations on the supply and availability of fossil fuels and the need to reduce environmentally damaging emissions, the Irish government is attempting to increase the market share of electric vehicles (EVs) to a target of 10% by 2020 whilst also increasing the proportion of renewable energy generation. This paper uses data collected from household charge points in Ireland to analyse existing EV charging profiles, which formed part of the European Union funded Green eMotion project, and some useful results are found e.g. charging profiles for current Irish EV users show a large peak during the evening beginning near the current peak power demand on the electrical grid. The potential impacts of increased numbers of EVs in the population on the Irish electrical grid are assessed if EV penetration levels were to increase to different levels in the population. To assess a number of scenarios for projected levels of EVs into the population, the 2011 census database was used to examine the key demands of the population in terms of their car based work trips. A large proportion of Irish households were identified as being suitable for the purchase of an EV on this basis and a number of market penetration scenarios to 2020 are investigated. The next step in the research examined the potential impact on the electrical grid of the potential charging demand for the projected scenarios. The projected supply capacity within the Irish electrical grid would appear sufficiently capable to absorb the likely power demand from EVs in both 2016 and 2020 scenarios.