| Abstract | At present, the percentage of electric vehicles in the global on-road fleet continues to increase. At the same time, there is also a worldwide shift towards sustainable power generation technologies such as solar and wind for electricity. Power generation from such renewable sources is intrinsically unsteady. The electricity stored in the EV fleet is seen as a possible means to provide grid stabilization through V2X applications. Here, V2X is a catch-all for V2G, or vehicle-to-grid. With increasing energy capacity being built into the battery packs of light-duty EVs, newer information emerging on their performance and durability is winning consumer confidence. With preliminary technical benchmarks achieved, more widespread acceptance for EVs will come with positive demonstrations of their performance under more demanding circumstances, and one of key interest is their durability in cold climate regions. In this context, a study by numerical simulation was conceived and conducted to investigate the effects of EV use in a Canadian climatic environment, tracing both the electrochemical and thermal state of the battery pack over the EV lifetime. These scenarios considered two vehicle types, six different cities, two US EPA based drive cycles at 50 km/day, various levels of V2X provision, two charger power levels and two operational sequences. Daily outdoor climatic conditions for a one year period were imposed on the simulation, with a heat transfer model for the pack temperature when the vehicle was not in use. The results of the study are quite detailed, and provide quantitative lifetime estimates derived from tracking battery degradation. Externally supplied energy for heating or cooling before battery operations was also accounted for. In general, colder cities were found to result in shortened service lifetimes, with garage storage of the EVs shown to significantly mitigate climatic effects. |
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