The Plug-in Electric Vehicles Role in Smart Grid Development: a Survey

An overview of the Vehicle-to-Grid technology (V2G) is presented in this paper. It aims to highlight V2G main features, opportunities and requirements. Thus, after briefly resuming the most popular charging strategies for Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs), the V2G concept is introduced, especially highlighting its potentiality as a revenue opportunity for PEV owners; this is mainly due to the V2G capability to provide ancillary services, such as load levelling, regulation and reserve. Such solutions have been deeply investigated in the literature by both economic and technical point of views and here reported. In addition, V2G requirements are properly taken into account, such as mobility needs, charging stations availability and appropriate PEV aggregative architectures. In conclusion, future developments and scenarios have been also reported.