Long-term electric system investments to support Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) represent a promising pathway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the U.S. transportation sector. A large-scale shift from gasoline-powered automobiles to PHEVs would inextricably link the U.S. transportation system with its electric system. We build on [4] to perform a regional emissions analysis of a PHEV use pattern where PHEVs are charged at night and discharged during the day. We find that in some coal-intensive regions like the Midwest, charging PHEVs by burning coal may produce more emissions than burning gasoline. Overnight charging of PHEVs will deteriorate the system load factor by increasing off-peak demand. This may have deleterious effects on system infrastructure. We perform some simple simulations looking at the effect of off-peak PHEV charging on the performance of oil-cooled substation transformers.