Work

China’s urban EV ultra-fast charging distorts regulated price signals and elevates risk to grid stability

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The wide adoption of electric vehicles is driving the rapid deployment of ultra-fast charging stations, particularly in China. This study uses simulations based on extensive real-world charging data from major Chinese cities and finds that deploying 2000 ultra-fast charging stations in a city may increase the peak-to-valley differences of the public charging load by up to 31.61% daily relative to baseline cases. While integrating energy storage systems can help smooth short-term load volatility, it may simultaneously exacerbate short-term demand surges, particularly during the transition from high- to low-price periods. Under an unregulated scenario, large-scale deployment of ultra-fast charging stations with energy storage could raise peak loads by over 70−85% by 2030 and multiply them by up to 7.5 times by 2050. These findings underscore that a comprehensive rethinking of grid management strategies and market frameworks will be essential to ensure urban energy resilience in an era of rapid electric vehicle expansion. Ultra-fast charging for electric vehicles poses challenges to power grid stability. Here, the authors show that under time-of-use pricing in China, they create sharp demand peaks, and on-site energy storage can worsen the risk.

Source: Nature Communications

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63199-3

Authors: Qing Yu, Pengjun Zhao, Jiaxing Li, Han Wang, Jie Yan, Haoran Zhang

Institutions: Peking University, North China Electric Power University, State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources

Language: English

Topic: Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Sustainable cities and communities, Affordable and clean energy, Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $6,990