Price incentives for smart electric vehicle operation - Status quo and perspectives

Integrating electric vehicles (EVs) into future smart power systems is challenge and opportunity in one. Achieving system optimization, renewables integration and quick diffusion requires coordination of EVs with the power system. This paper analyzes price differentiation as a means to incentivize smart EV operation. For smart EV operation time, location and volume are important dimensions of price incentives. A diverse portfolio of tariffs caters to different business models and actors. Ideally this induces a win-win situation with benefits for both users and system operation. However, the quality and effectiveness of price incentives and thus the success of coordination depends on conditions such as price level, consumer behavior and regulation.