victorian electric vehicle trial mid-term report - Department of Transport

The appeal of a financial incentiveto defer charging was investigatedwith the entire sample of householdparticipants. With reference toFigure 37, the bias in the results wastowards maximising the vehicle utility.This result is consistent with findingsfrom the Ergon Energy EV trial inQueensland, where drivers pushedback on mandatory deferred chargingof their vehicle under the ‘Tariff 33’arrangement that is more generallyapplied to pool-pumps (Ergon 2012).In late 2012, a small group oftrial household participants wereselected to take part in an electricitydemand response and load controldemonstration project – refer to thebreakout box below. These householdswere equipped with DiUS Computing’sChargeIQ EV charging outlet, whichwas bound to their residential smartmeter upon installation. The objectiveof the project was to demonstrateuse of Victoria’s Advanced MeteringInfrastructure for the purposes ofmanaging EV charging demand.A total of 64 charge-managementevents were deployed by thedistribution network operator for theregion, split between ‘peak charging’events for which 24 hours’ noticewas provided to participants, and‘emergency charge management’events for which just one hour noticewas provided. Results from a surveyof participants indicated widespreadacceptance of the charge managementmethod and technology, to the extentthat the majority of participants wouldagree to have their charging managedthis way in future even if there was nofinancial benefit to them.This outcome suggests that smartgrid, or other charge managementtechnologies, will be effective in themanagement of EV charging so as toavoid costly network investments.Would you be open to having your vehicle charge when it wascheaper rather than as soon as you plugged in?Yes, but only ifmy vehicle wasfully chargedwhen I needed itYes, if itprovideda betterenvironmentaloutcomeYes, but onlyif it were halfthe costNo0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%Figure 37. Results from a survey of trial household participants on their outlook towards deferred charging in responseto a financial incentive; survey interval was around six weeks into their EV experience (n = 77; multiple choices permitted).CREATING A MARKET 67