The Potential of Residential Rooftop Photovoltaic Energy to Charge Electric Cars for Daily Use

Abstract

The transport sector is responsible for 36% of the Swiss total annual energy demand. If the transport sector is electrified, significant additional power production capabilities are required. Photovoltaic (PV) energy is the renewable energy source with the highest remaining potential in Switzerland. However, due to its fluctuating power production, it is unclear how PV can contribute to fuel electric vehicles (EV). In this work, we analyze how much rooftop PV on homes of electric vehicle owners can contribute to cover the energy demand of their vehicles. In our analysis, we combine a spatio-temporal PV rooftop model with trajectories of electric vehicles and sensor information from the cars’ batteries.