Impact of Temperature on the Electric Vehicle Hosting Capacity of Distribution Networks

This paper investigates the impact of temperature on the electric vehicle (EV) hosting capacity of distribution networks. As countries seek to decarbonize, EVs have been widely adopted as a sustainable mode of transportation. However, the increase in demand resulting from EV charging will place significant strain on the network. One less explored aspect of EV hosting capacity is the variation of EV charging under different temperatures. This paper proposes a new method to embed consideration of temperature in EV hosting capacity assessment based on temperature clustering. The proposed methodology is validated on a real UK residential low-voltage distribution network using real-world charging data from the Electric Nation project in the UK, revealing the variation in maximum EV hosting capacity at different temperatures. It is shown that failure to account for temperature leads to overestimation of maximum EV hosting capacity at higher temperature ranges. As a result, network planning should consider temperature variations to reflect a more realistic expectation of system limitation. As temperature continues to increase alongside growth in EVs, considering the influence of temperature within EV hosting capacity and charging infrastructure needs will be of increasing importance.