The effectiveness of electric vehicle charging stations powered by solar energy

One of the most important factors that trigger climate change, which is considered one of the biggest problems of our age, is carbon emissions. Measures are being taken in many areas to reduce carbon emissions.One way to reduce carbon emissions in transportation is to increase the use of electric vehicles.Accordingly, the European Union bans the sale of vehicles using fossil fuels as of 2035. The rapid increase in the number of electric vehicles brings with it the need to easily meet the charging needs of these vehicles. In order to meet this need, some public institutions and organizations organize incentive programs, while electric vehicle users are establishing or planning to establish individual charging stations. Although the carbon emissions of electric vehicles are much less than vehicles running on gasoline or diesel fuel, the source of the electrical energy used as fuel in electric vehicles and its impact on the environment are also important parameters, due to the basic philosophy of electric vehicle use. In this thesis study, a methodology is implemented to find solutions to the questions of what should be the size of photovoltaic solar panels needed if it is supported by solar energy and what should be the capacity of a battery group added to this station. The proposed method is designed to determine the required panel's installed power and battery capacity values according to the energy demand amounts of electric vehicles and solar energy production amounts by using a discrete event simulation model with a 1-hour cycle precision. While it is possible to make an analysis by entering the consumption data of an existing charging station with the developed method, these data can also be entered by using statistical distribution models to predict the future needs of a station planned to be established or an existing station. The proposed method was applied to a charging station installed and being operated in Ankara. For this application, solar irradiation data of Ankara province was produced with PVsyst software and nearly 1 year of consumption data of an existing station for the years 2023 - 2024 were used. Buying and selling prices of electrical energy for 2023 were obtained from official institutions. As a result of the study, evaluations were made on the applicability of the method and the effectiveness of solar energy systems used with charging stations.