2019 International Conference on Intelligent Green Building and Smart Grid (IGBSG2019), 6-9 Sept.
, Yichang China
Valley-Period Dispatched Strategy of Electric
Vehicles in Charging Station
Hejun Yang Yeyu Zhang
School of Electrical School of Electrical
Engineering and Engineering and
Automation Automation
Hefei University of Hefei University of
Technology Technology
Hefei, China Hefei, China
cquyhj@126.com yanghejun@hfut.edu.cn
Abstract—Electric vehicles (EVs) have been gradually known
to the public because of their advantages of energy saving and
environmental protection. However, its charging behavior is
random in space and time, which has an impact on the quality of
the power grid and its safe and economic operation. A valley-
period dispatched charging model and strategy based on the
particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is proposed in this
paper. It can make full use of each period of the valley-period to
complete the charging of EVs, and reduce the peak-valley ratio of
load profiles in the valley-period significantly. The Monte Carlo
simulation is used to simulate the charging load profiles of EVs
under different charging strategies. The results show that the
proposed strategy can effectively optimize the charging load
profiles of EVs in the valley-period.
Index Terms—Electric vehicles (EV), Time-Of-Use (TOU),
Valley-period dispatched strategy, Particle Swarm Optimization
(PSO), Monte Carlo simulation
I. INTRODUCTION
T He increasing energy shortage and people’s awareness of
energy conservation and environmental protection globally,
Electric Vehicles (EVs) have gradually been known to people,
and will gradually replace the traditional fuel vehicles widely
used by people in the future [1]. EVs can not only obtain power
from the grid by charging, but also discharge to the grid during
the period of low power consumption in the grid [2-3]. However,
EVs are regarded as changeable loads when charging, which are
random in time and space. If a large number of EVs connect to
grid for charging, the carrying capacity of the grid may be
challenged, which will affect the safety and reliable operation of
the grid.
At present, numerous studies have been developed in the
combination of EVs and grid, such as the planning of EVs in
the power system [4], the system reliability assessment of EVs
connecting to the grid [5], economic and financial analyses [6].
Much research has been carried out on charging models and
control strategies of EVs. Reference [7] established a dynamic
time sequential charge price to arrange an orderly charge of
EVs according to the willingness index of each user
participating in the dispatch and the initial State-Of-Charge
(SOC). A charging load self-management method was
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652
Yinghao Ma Zhenyu Hao
School of Electrical School of Electrical
Engineering and Engineering and
Automation Automation
Hefei University of Hefei University of
Technology Technology
Hefei, China Hefei, China
yinghao_ma@126.com 630078061@qq.com
developed in [8] to mitigate the operational risk by a sequential
charging control technique. To determine the impacts of a
driver’s swapping behavior on the power grid and generation
cost, Reference [9] proposed an optimization charging mode
and simulated the impacts of the charging mode on the power
grid and generation side. Based on the Time-Of-Use (TOU)
electricity price guidance, the control method of EVs orderly
charging is carried out by using the double sequence valley-
period in [10]. In [11], an index evaluation system of the EVs
under the condition of real-time price is established, and an
orderly scheduling strategy of the EVs is proposed. The above
literature has contributed to the research of charging models
and control strategies for EVs, but there is little study on the
control strategy of the valley-period. However, a large number
of EV users charging in the valley-period may lead to a new
peak of the charging load profiles in the valley-period, and there
will be a situation that the valley-period cannot be fully used
for charging.
Therefore, a valley-period dispacthed model based on
Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is proposed in
this paper, which makes the dispatching center can make full
use of each period of valley-period by reasonably arranging the
charging number of EVs in the valley-period. The purpose is to
make the load profiles of the grid more smoothly and to achieve
the effect of peak load shifting in the valley-period. Because of
the sequence of EV charging and residential electricity
consumption, the charging performance of EVs is modelled by
the Monte Carlo simulation method.
II. EV CHARGING MODELING
A. Charging Mode
The charging modes of EVs are generally divided into: AC
slows charging, DC fast charging, battery switching and
intelligent charging. In this paper, AC slow charging mode is
adopted for EVs.
B. Charging Starting Time
Without any charging policies and strategies, it can be
considered that EV users charge their EVs in an uncontrolled
state, and the charging starting time obeys the normal
 2019 International Conference on Intelligent Green Building and Smart Grid (IGBSG2019), 6-9 Sept., Yichang China

distribution of parameter N ( S ,  S 2 ). Following the results of calculated by proportional apportionment method [15].
Considering the randomness of charging behavior of EV users,
the 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) [12], the
the user response coefficient λ is set.
probability density function is as follows:
 1 −
( x − S )2 B. Valley-Period Dispacthed Model

2
e 2 S S − 12  x  24 The steps of the valley-period dispatched model and
 S 2 algorithm based on the PSO algorithm [16] are described as
fS =  (1)
 1 −
( x + 24 −  S )2 follows:
2 S 2
 e 0  x   S − 12 1) The period partition is obtained by an equal step length
 S 2 iteration algorithm [17], then the valley-period is divided into n
where x denotes the charging starting time, μs denotes the periods in terms of hours, and the number of EVs in charging
expected value, it takes 17.6, s denotes the standard deviation, state of each period is calculated by:
it takes 3.4. P
Ni = i i = 1, 2,..., n (5)
C. State Of Charge (SOC) Pc
Assuming that the daily mileage of EVs obeys the normal where Pi is the charging load of the i-th period after TOU tariff.
2) Calculate the difference values between the EV number of
distribution of parameter N ( D ,  D 2 ), the probability density
each period and the average number:
function is as follows: xi = Ni − Navr i = 1, 2,..., n (6)
(ln L −  D )2
−
1 2 D 2 where Navr is the average value of Ni (i=1, 2, .., n).
fL = e (2)
L D 2 3) Then the single objective constrained optimization problem
can be expressed as follows:
where L denotes the daily travel mileage, μD denotes the min f(x1, x2,…, xn) (7)
expected value, it takes 3.2,  D denotes the standard deviation,
 g j ( x1 , x2 ,..., xn )  0,
 j = 1, 2,..., J
it takes 0.88. s.t.  (K≤n)(8)
Calculate the initial SOC(ti)k of EV k when it enters hk ( x1 , x2 ,..., xn ) = 0 k = 1, 2,..., K

charging state at ti： 4) Initialize particle swarm: Given the population size N, the
LW position xi and velocity vi of each particle are randomly
SOC (ti )k = SOC0 − k 100 (3) generated, and the iteration number is specified.
P0
5) Modified objective function Fit(i) of each particle is
where W100 denotes the power consumption of EV for 100 calculated according to the fitness function as follows:
kilometers, P0 denotes the rated capacity of EV, SOC0 denotes  f ( xi ) g j ( xi )  0, j = 1, 2,..., J + 2 K

the SOC value of EV k when it starts. Fit (i ) =  J +2K (9)
 f max +  g j ( xi ) g j ( xi )  0
D. Charging Duration  j =1

At present, lithium batteries are the main batteries for EVs, where fmax is the worst feasible solution in the population, is
which are charged in a two-stage process. However, due to the calculated by:
relatively short charging time, they can be approximately  g j ( xi ) g j ( xi )  0
considered as constant power charging [13]. Calculate the g j ( xi ) =  (10)
0 g j ( xi )  0
charging duration Tk required for EV k:
LW 6) Transform equality constraints into inequality constraints:
Tk = k 100 (4) g ( x1 , x2 ,..., xn ) = −h( x1 , x2 ,..., xn ) +   0,
100( PC ) (11)
k = J + 1, J + 2,..., J + K
where η is the charging efficiency, Pc is the charging power.
g k ( x1 , x2 ,..., xn ) = −h( x1 , x2 ,..., xn ) −   0,
(12)
III. VALLEY-PERIOD DISPATCHED MODEL AND
k = J + K + 1, J + K + 2,..., J + 2K
ALGORITHMS where  is a small number.
7) Obtain the individual extreme value pBest[i] of each
A. Orderly charging strategy based on TOU tariff particle and the global extreme value gBest.
In order to solve the impact of uncontrolled charging of EVs 8) Calculate the new velocity vid and position xid of each
on the grid, the charging strategy of EVs based on TOU tariff is particle:
usually adopted to encourage residents to use the discounted vid = wv 'id + c1r1 ( pid − x 'id ) + c2 r2 ( pgd − x 'id ), d = 1, 2,..., n (13)
charging price in the valley-period [14]. This strategy enables
users to adjust their charging behavior in time according to the xid = x 'id + vid , d = 1, 2,..., n (14)
change of electricity price, and can ensure the safety and where c1 and c2 are constants; r1 and r2 are two uniformly
economic operation of power grid. This paper uses the price distributed random numbers in (0, 1).
elasticity of demand technique to transfer the charging load of 9) If the suspension condition is satisfied, stop; otherwise, go
peak-period to valley-period, then the sequential hourly load is

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 2019 International Conference on Intelligent Green Building and Smart Grid (IGBSG2019), 6-9 Sept., Yichang China

to step 5).
According to the above steps, the optimized number of EVs
in charging state of each period is obtained, and then
multiplied by its charging power to obtain the optimized
charging load of each period in the valley-period. This
strategy can avoid “uncontrolled charging” in the valley-
period which can not make good use of each period. It can
optimize the charging load profiles and peak load shifting at
night.

IV. CASE STUDIES

In order to verify whether the valley-period dispatched
charging strategy proposed can optimize the valley-period
charging load profile, the Monte Carlo simulation method is Fig. 1. EVs charging load profile in valley-period
used to simulate the charging load profiles and the system load
profiles of an urban residential area in China. Basic data used It can be seen that the charging load profile after TOU tariff
in the case study are given as follows. The grid load data is is above the load profile in the uncontrolled charging state. And
provided by the typical daily load data for September. The the EV charging behaviors after TOU tariff are concentrated in
coefficient c1 and c2 are both 0.5, w is 0.8,  is 0.1. The self- 0:00-01:00. In contrast, in response to the valley-period
elasticity and cross-elasticity coefficients used in this paper can dispatched strategy proposed in this paper, the EVs charging
be found in [18]. The relevant EV data are listed in Table I. The behaviors are concentrated in 01:00-06:00. It shows that the
price before TOU tariff is 0.65RMB, and the period partitioning valley-period dispatched strategy can make rational use of the
and electricity prices are listed in Table II. valley-period, so that the dispatching center can dispatch more
EVs charging during the minimum load period (01:00-06:00)
TABLE I. RELEVANT EV DATA intensively.
Parameters Value
EV number 500
λ 70%
W100(kW•h/km) 18.6
PC(kW) 5.6
SOC0 90%

TABLE II. PERIOD PARTITIONING AND ELECTRICITY PRICES

Type Period Electrcity Price(RMB)
08：00—13：00
Peak 0.91
18：00—21：00
07:00—08：00
Flat 13：00—18：00 0.50
21：00—23：00
Valley 23：00—07：00 0.35
Fig. 2. System load profiles in response to different strategies
A. Simulation Result Fig. 2 shows the system load profiles in response to
The valley-period dispatched strategy proposed in this different strategies. Compared with the conventional load
paper is applied to EVs in the residential area. Fig. 1 shows the profiles of the grid, the peak-valley ratio of system load is
charging load profiles of EVs in the valley-period (23:00-07:00) higher when EVs connected to the grid in the uncontrolled
in response to different strategies. charging state, while the peak-valley ratio of system load is
smaller when response to TOU tariff. In response to the valley-
period dispatched charging strategy proposed in this paper, it
can be seen that the load profile becomes more gentle in the
valley-period, which can improve the quality of grid in the
valley-period at night.
B. Simulation results under different user response coefficient
In order to study the influence of different user response on
the grid load, three different user response coefficients are set.
The results are shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4.

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 2019 International Conference on Intelligent Green Building and Smart Grid (IGBSG2019), 6-9 Sept., Yichang China
Fig. 3. System load profiles in response to TOU tariff
Fig. 4. System load profiles in response to valley-period dispatched
Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 show that the system load increases more
in the valley-period and decreases more in the peak-period with
the increasing of user response coefficient. That is to say, the
more users responding to TOU tariff and valley-period
dispatched strategy, the more obvious the effect of reducing
peak-valley ratio is.
V. CONCLUSIONS
In this study, a valley-period dispatched charging model
and strategy based on PSO algorithm is proposed, which aims
at minimizing the peak-valley ratio in the valley-period and
dispatching different number of EVs in each period. The
charging load profiles and system load profiles of EVs under
uncontrolled charging state, TOU-based orderly charging
strategy and valley-period dispatched charging strategy are
simulated by Monte Carlo simulation method, respectively. The
influence of different user response coefficient values on
charging load is also studied. The results show that the
algorithm can effectively reduce the peak-valley ratio of
charging load profiles in the valley-period, and effectively
utilize each period of valley-period to complete the EVs
charging.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (51607051), Anhui Provincial Natural
Science Foundation (1708085ME107, 1908085QE237),
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
(JZ2019HGTB0077)
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