Evaluating the carbon-emission reduction potential of employing low-carbon demand response to guide electric-vehicle charging: A Chinese case study

The rapid growth of electric vehicles (EVs) has resulted in considerable indirect carbon emissions from power systems. To reduce charging emissions, EVs should be charged strategically to consume generated renewable energy electricity. To achieve this goal, a low-carbon demand response model is proposed to stimulate multi-type EV users to consume more low-carbon electricity by guiding users to adjust their charging behaviour temporally and spatially. First, the charging flexibility of EVs is modelled considering different user behaviours and charging modes. To accurately guide the EV demand response, a method is proposed to calculate future carbon emission factors with high temporal and spatial resolutions. Considering the carbon emission factors, charging flexibility is integrated into a model for a low-carbon demand response. This model holistically optimizes fast and slow charging of EVs from the user’s perspective. Case studies are carried out using real-world data and future planning results for Changzhou and China. The results indicate that EVs produce 73 % less carbon emissions during driving than traditional gasoline vehicles. Using low-carbon demand response to guide EV charging could reduce carbon emissions by up to 15 % by 2035.