Techno-Economic Feasibility and Optimal Design Approach of Grid-Connected Hybrid Power Generation Systems for Electric Vehicles Battery Swapping Station

Fossil fuel depletion, environmental concerns, and energy efficiency initiatives drive the rapid growth in the adoption of electric vehicles. However, one of the significant challenges to the widespread deployment of this technology is the lengthy battery charging time. The concept of a battery swapping station has emerged as a solution to this issue, where depleted electric vehicle batteries are exchanged for fully charged ones in significantly less time. To this end, this paper evaluates the technical and economic performance of a grid-connected photovoltaic-wind hybrid power supply system for an electric vehicle battery swapping station. The objective is to investigate the viability of the hybrid power supply system as an alternative energy source by assessing its potential for cost savings and the overall cost-effectiveness of grid-connected systems for electric vehicle battery swapping stations. This is achieved through an optimal control model designed to minimize the total life cycle cost of the proposed system and reduce the consumption of electrical energy from the utility grid while maximizing system reliability, which is defined based on the loss of power supply probability. The optimal control problem is solved using mixed-integer linear programming, with decision variables including the power drawn from the utility grid, the number of wind turbines, and the number of solar photovoltaic panels. The effectiveness of this model is verified through a case study. Simulation results demonstrate the desirable performance of the proposed system, with the optimal number of wind turbines and solar photovoltaic panels determined to be 64 and 420, respectively. The total life cycle cost of the installation, in South African Rand, is estimated at R 1,963,520.12, leading to energy cost savings of up to 41.58% for the studied case. Additionally, an economic analysis, conducted through life cycle cost analysis, includes the initial capital investment as well as the maintenance and operation costs over the system’s lifetime. The LCC analysis results indicate a payback period of 5 years and 6 months, demonstrating that the proposed system is both economically and technically feasible.