Can electricity pricing leverage electric vehicles and battery storage to integrate high shares of solar photovoltaics?

Leveraging electric vehicles with controlled charging has the potential to advance the integration of high shares of residential solar photovoltaics. Time-varying electricity pricing is a promising tool to control EV charging indirectly through price signals, but also affects the diffusion and usage of other residential technologies. In this article, we develop an agent-based model to simulate California’s residential market for electric-vehicle charging, and the adoption of solar photovoltaics and battery storage, between 2005 and 2030. We show that time-of-use and hourly rates have a substantial impact on the further diffusion and integration of these technologies. Time-of-use rates trigger the adoption of battery storage, but over-coordinate electric-vehicle charging. Hourly rates, in contrast, slow down the diffusion of solar photovoltaics temporarily, but concentrate electric-vehicle charging around midday, thereby reducing the need for fast-ramping generation capacity and carbon emissions. Using real-world driving patterns, we show that 80% of EVs shift charging to midday hours with home charging alone. However, EVs only reduce the need for ramping capacity and thus advance PV integration, when users also have access to workplace and public charging. Further, we demonstrate that electric vehicles mitigate the increase in retail electricity prices, and thus counteract the utility death spiral. Our results indicate that controlling EV charging with electricity pricing decreases utility costs but increase retail electricity prices.