This paper proposes a decentralized electric vehicle (EV) charging control method designed to clear voltage violations in distribution grids with high EV penetration, while considering consumer convenience. The concentration of EV charging demand can cause localized voltage violations, posing a significant challenge to grid operation. To address these issues, control of EV chargers is a particularly promising countermeasure. They offer fast, localized voltage control that can effectively complement the system‐wide adjustments of grid‐side voltage control devices. However, since EVs are primarily a means of transportation for consumers, any control strategy must avoid significantly hindering their usability. Therefore, this paper proposes a decentralized EV charging control strategy that integrates charging shifting and reactive power control based on the voltage measured at the charger. The proposed method postpones charging initiation until the measured voltage exceeds a predefined threshold, effectively shifting the load. During active charging, it injects reactive power to mitigate voltage drops, thereby reducing the duration of these charging shifts and resolving voltage violations. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is validated through numerical simulations on a realistic rural distribution feeder model. The performance is evaluated based on its ability to enhance EV hosting capacity and minimize charging delays for consumers. © 2026 The Author(s). IEEJ Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Engineering published by Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC.
Watanabe et al. (Tue,) studied this question.