Date of Award

2026-05-01

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Advisor(s)

Paras Mandal

Abstract

The emergence of novel in-motion Electric Vehicle (EV) charging through Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer (DWPT) technology is enabling the transformation of traditional roadway infrastructures into fully integrated Electrified Transportation Networks (ETNs) by the direct coupling of roadways with electric power grids. This paradigm has the potential to improve charging safety, extend driving ranges, reduce EV manufacturing costs through smaller battery sizes, and shift EV charging demand to periods when Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) are more readily available. In addition, the transition to ETNs can improve air quality and reduce noise pollution by displacing fossil fuel consumption from vehicles to centralized power producers.

The transition to ETNs, however, also introduces new operational and planning challenges due to the potentially high, localized, and unpredictable charging demands typically associated with EV charging, which may vary significantly across both time and location in DWPT networks. This is due to the fact that conventional EV Charging Systems (EVCS) differ fundamentally as they deliver power to vehicles at fixed locations whose peaks follow daily or work-hour cycles. In contrast, DWPT networks follow traffic flow expectations, which makes their demands more unpredictable. As a result, the aggregated demands may cause significant shifts in daily load profiles and peak demand periods potentially leading to localized load congestion, transformer overloading, and voltage instability that could exceed operational limits of the grid. Addressing these challenges may require modernization of grid-connected infrastructure - including distribution lines, transformers, capacitors, and protection devices - to ensure safe and reliable operations and to prevent large-scale system failures. Furthermore, supporting a fully electrified vehicle fleet will inevitably require additional electrical generation capacity and will subsequently impact grid stability if mitigation strategies are not utilized.

The work described in this dissertation presents a novel framework for evaluating large-scale DWPT networks (i.e., roadway segments of 1-mile or greater with typical highway traffic flow conditions) within electrical power distribution grids, providing a comprehensive assessment of their impacts and benefits to support operational planning for EV owners, power system operators, and transportation system operators. The proposed methodologies focus on the multidisciplinary aspects of DWPT networks to accurately and efficiently produce load demand profiles that reflect real-world driving behaviors at large scale, while also evaluating the potentially hazardous effects that DWPT networks may impose on electrical distribution systems. In addition, this dissertation investigates potential strategies to improve the stability, reliability, and resiliency of distribution grids with large-scale DWPT network integration.

The results presented in this dissertation demonstrate that load demands associated with large-scale DWPT networks can be efficiently and accurately characterized through the integration of microscopic traffic flow simulations, modified Toeplitz convolution, and EV battery state models. By capturing vehicle-level mobility patterns and translating them into aggregated electrical demand profiles, this framework enables a realistic representation of the stochastic charging behavior introduced by in-motion EV charging. The results illustrate that DWPT network charging loads exhibit significant temporal and spatial variability driven by several key factors, including traffic flow congestion, charging network availability, EV density levels, and user driving preferences. These factors collectively influence the frequency and duration of charging events, resulting in highly dynamic load patterns across the transportation network that increasingly affect distribution grid stability and reliability. Nevertheless, this dissertation demonstrates that these impacts can be mitigated by the optimal siting and sizing of DWPT networks, the integration of DERs, and Priority Load Control (PLC) demand response programs achieved through the development of a novel weighted multi-stage criterion designed to quantify the severity and persistence of grid degradation.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

235 p.

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Travis Newbolt

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