Can electric vehicles reduce electricity bill?
Battery could supply electricity during on-peak hours
Rodolfo Dufo-López, Jesús S. Artal-Sevil, José L. Bernal-Agustín, José A. Domínguez-Navarro
Electrical Engineering Department.
University of Zaragoza
Zaragoza, Spain
rdufo@unizar.es, jsartal@unizar.es, jlbernal@unizar.es, jadona@unizar.es
Abstract— In this paper, the use of the electric vehicle (EV)
battery to supply part of the electrical load of the house (when
the EV is parked at home) during on-peak hours under time-of-
use (TOU) electrical tariff is shown. The EV battery is charged
by buying electricity from the AC grid during off-peak hours (at
low price), and during on-peak hours (at high price), the battery
can supply the whole load or a part, avoiding the purchase of
expensive electricity from the AC grid. This use of the battery
can be compatible with the normal use (supplying electricity to
the wheels of the EV) and can help to reduce the electricity bill.
Keywords— Electric vehicle; time-of-use (TOU) tariff; grid-
connected battery; economics
I. INTRODUCTION
Electricity demand smoothening [1-5] can reduce demand
variation during the day, bringing higher capacity in the factor
of distribution grids and higher security of the electricity
supply [5]. It can be obtained by a change in consumption
patterns (demand response), and it can be encouraged by
means of incentive payments (incentive-based programs) or by
means of a change in the price of electricity (price-based
programs) [6].
Time-of-Use (TOU) is a type of price-based program that
is particularly convenient for residential users [7], whereby
peak periods have higher prices than prices during off-peak
periods, stimulating the users to shift their use of electricity to
off-peak periods. Usually, TOU tariffs include two or three
periods (off-peak, mid-, and on-peak) during the day, as the
electricity price is constant during each period.
Under the TOU tariff, the EV battery can be used to
contribute to demand smoothening, as it can be charged during
the night (off-peak period of TOU tariff, low electricity price).
In addition, during on-peak hours (which have a high
electricity price, usually late in the evening), if the EV is at
home, it can supply part of the electrical load of the house.
Thus, it could reduce the part of the electricity bill
corresponding to the load of the house.
It can be economically worthwhile if the difference
between the on-peak price and the off-peak price is high
enough to compensate for the cost of the ageing of the battery.
978-1-4799-6075-0/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE
In general, commercial EVs at the present time do not
allow electricity to be managed in this way—i.e., they only
can be charged by the AC grid, but they cannot supply
electricity to the AC loads of the house. However, the addition
of an inverter (with all of the security features used by the on-
grid solar inverters like anti-island features, etc.), and its
control system would make it possible and would imply a
minimal cost in the EV. Also, the modification of the
electricity policies, which regulate the electrical sector, should
be done in many countries to allow this kind of management.
In this paper, we perform an economical study to evaluate
the profitability of the management of the EV battery to
supply part of the load of the house during on-peak hours
under a TOU tariff.
II. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
The system is shown in Fig.1, where the bi-di converter is
composed of the battery charger (AC-DC converter) and also
the inverter (DC-AC). Switch S1 controls the charge of the
battery, and S2 controls the discharge (to supply electricity to
the house). They are managed by the control system, which
connects or disconnects S1 or S2, depending on the hour of
the day (period of the TOU tariff), the current state of charge
(SOC) of the battery, the up and down SOC setpoints of the
battery (if any), the distance (km) expected to drive during the
rest of the hours of the day, etc.
AC
Bi-di conv.
S1 S2
DC
Control
Battery
Bank
Fig. 1. EV battery used for the electricity demand management of the house.
 Battery roundtrip efficiency has been considered ηBat = 0.9
(average Li-ion battery) [8].
Efficiencies considered for the battery charger (η AC/DC) and
for the inverter (ηDC/AC) are the same, 0.96 [9].
We will suppose that the EV battery will be charged
during the night time (off-peak hours of TOU tariff). In
addition, it will be used to go to work in the morning and to go
back in the afternoon (it will travel a certain distance in
km/day), and when it is parked at home in the evening, it will
supply part of the load (during on-peak hours of the TOU
tariff) until the battery reaches a minimum SOC (which will
be saved for emergency use).
We will not consider that the EV could export electricity to
the AC grid, although it could be another way to obtain
economical benefits from the battery. We will consider that
the battery will only supply part of the electrical load
consumed by the house during on-peak hours, so a device to
prevent the injection of electricity into the AC grid will be
needed to be installed in the access point of the house to the
AC grid.
In this paper, we will focus on the economical benefits that
could be obtained performing the management shown in the
previous paragraphs. The question is: how will the benefits in
the electricity bill compensate for the cost of the ageing of the
battery?
III. TOU TARIFF
We will consider a TOU tariff, where electricity prices can
vary by time of day, day of week (weekday or weekend), and
season (winter or summer). TOU pricing is a rate structure that
reflects the costs associated with electricity production
throughout the day. TOU usually involves three different
periods during the day. Each period has its own electricity
price (Fig. 2):
In Spain, there is a TOU tariff named the ‘super-valley’
EV TOU tariff [10] (Fig. 2). Off-peak time is from 1 to 7 h,
Pr_elecOff_Peak = 0.05615 €/kWh; mid-peak is from 23 to 1 h
and from 7 to 13 h, Pr_elecMid = 0.09142 €/kWh; on-peak is
from 13 to 23 h Pr_elecOn-Peak = 0.1918 €/kWh (prices include
electricity tax and VAT). This EV TOU has a high difference
between off-peak and on-peak prices, which is Pr_elecDiff =
Pr_elecOn-Peak - Pr_elecOff_Peak = 0.13565 €/kWh.
The house considered in this work has an electrical load of
12 kWh/day, 7.6 of which are during on-peak hours. Apart
from this load, the load of charging the EV battery depends on
the km to be driven.
IV. CASE OF BATTERY RENTAL
We will consider the EV Nissan Leaf, which has a 24 kWh
Li-ion battery. In this section, we suppose that the option
selected is battery rental. The rental can be for 15,000, 20,000
or 25,000 km/yr. We will suppose that the user will perform
15,000 km/yr; however, the energy equivalent of 10,000 km/yr
will be extra cycled to the supply part or the load of the house
during on-peak hours. Therefore, we want to know if the
difference between the battery rental cost for 15,000 km/yr
and whether 25,000 km/yr is enough to compensate for the
electricity saved in the bill. In other words, we want to know if
the difference between the price of electricity during on-peak
hours and off-peak hours is enough to compensate the
difference of cost in battery rental.
The EV electricity consumption depends on the driving:
highway (24 kWh / 110 km), city (24 kWh / 170 km), traffic
jam (24 kWh / 76 km) …. We will suppose that our driving
will be on the highway and in the city, and the assumed
consumption will be 24 kWh / 130 km = 18.46 kWh/100 km.

 Off-peak is when demand is low and less expensive We will suppose our EV will drive an average of 40
sources of electricity are used (electricity price for this km/day (7.38 kWh/day), so it will drive 14,600 km/yr. Then
period is denoted as Pr_elecOff-Peak). the battery rental of 15,000 km would be applied, the cost of
which is 1,032 €/yr. However, we will consider the 25,000
 Mid-peak is when the cost of energy and demand are km/yr battery rental, which costs 1,464 €/yr. Thus, a
moderate (electricity price Pr_elecMid). difference of RentalDiff = 432 €/yr will be paid, and this should
 On-peak is when demand is highest and more be compensated for by the reduction in the electricity bill. The
expensive forms of electricity production are required 10,000 km/yr (i.e., 27.4 km/day) extra will not be driven;
(electricity price Pr_elecOn-Peak). rather, they will be used to supply electricity to the house
during on-peak hours. The equivalent energy supplied to the
Electricity price (€/kWh) On-peak: Battery can supply part of the load
0.2
house during on-peak hours will be: 27.4 km/day · 18.46
kWh/100 km = 5.05 kWh/day -> We will suppose that annual
0.15
load L = 5 kWh/day · 365 = 1,825 kWh/yr will be supplied
Off-peak:
Charge batt. at low price
during on-peak hours by the battery.
0.1
In Fig. 3, the energy during each hour of a typical day is
shown. The charge of the battery is during off-peak hours, and
0.05
the discharge is around 6 a.m. (EV drives to work) and 2 p.m.
(return to work). From then, the battery supplies the whole
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
load of the house until 5 kWh have been served. The battery
Hour of the day, h SOC (between 0, fully discharged, and 1, fully charged) is
shown in the right axis.
Fig. 2. TOU tariff.
 E(kWh) Load house Bat charge Bat discharge SOC SOC In this case, we will consider the EV drives 60 km/day
4 Driving to/from work 1 (11.07 kWh/day), so the battery would last LifeBat_only_driving =
3.5 Battery supplies on-peak load 0.9
7.12 years if it were only used for driving.
0.8
3
0.7 Let us suppose that we want the battery to supply 7
2.5 0.6 kWh/day during on-peak hours (L= 7 kWh/day · 365 days =
2 0.5
2,555 kWh/yr). In this case, the battery would last LifeBat =
1.5 0.4
0.3
28,800 kWh / (11.07+7 kWh/day) = 1,593 days = 4.36 years.
1

0.5
0.2 In Fig. 4, the energy during each hour of a typical day is
0.1
shown. When EV is driven home from work and is parked at
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 15 h, the battery supplies the whole load of the house until 7
Hour of the day kWh have been served.
The difference in duration of the battery between using the
Fig. 3. Case of battery rental. Energy during each hour of a typical day (load battery only to drive 60 km/day and using the battery for the
of the house, battery charge, battery discharge) and SOC of the battery.
60 km/day and also to supply 7 kWh/day during on-peak
hours is LifeBat-Diff = LifeBat_only_driving - LifeBat = 7.12 - 4.36 =
2.76 years. The cost of the battery for these years is as
The difference needed between off-peak and on-peak TOU follows:
prices in order to obtain profitability is as follows:

CostBat-Diff = CostBat · LifeBat-Diff / LifeBat_only_driving 

 Pr_elecDiff_needed = RentalDiff / (L · ηBat · ηDC/AC · ηAC/DC)     
Obtaining a result of CostBat-Diff = 2,284 €.
The battery management system would be profitable if
Pr_elecDiff_needed < Pr_elecDiff. The difference needed between off-peak and on-peak TOU
prices in order to obtain profitability is as follows:
The value obtained is Pr_elecDiff_needed = 0.2853 €/kWh,
much higher than Pr_elecDiff (0.13565 €/kWh), so it would not
be profitable to use the EV battery to supply part of the load Pr_elecDiff_needed = CostBat-Diff/(L·LifeBat·ηBat·ηDC/AC·ηAC/DC) 
during on-peak hours.
The difference between the rental for 25,000 km/yr and for Obtaining a result of Pr_elecDiff_needed = 0.2631 €/kWh. As
15,000 km/yr would need to be reduced to 200 €/yr in order to this value is higher than Pr_elecDiff, the battery management
obtain profitability of the battery management, as shown in would not be profitable.
Table I. Varying the number of full cycles that can perform the
batteries, we found that it should be at least 2,400 so that the
V. CASE OF PRIVATE BATTERY battery management supplying 7 kWh/day during on-peak
hours would be profitable (Table II).
In this case, we will suppose the EV owner also owns the
battery. The difference between buying the EV with or
without batteries is 5,900 €, so this is the acquisition cost that E(kWh) Load house Bat charge Bat. discharge SOC SOC
we will consider for the battery, CostBat. The specific cost is 6 Driving to/from work 1

5,900/24 = 245.8 €/kWh. 5

Battery supplies on-peak load 0.9
0.8
Nissan guarantees 75% remaining capacity of the battery 4
0.7

after 100,000 km. Considering an average consumption of 0.6

18.46 kWh/100 km, after 100,000 km, the battery would have 3 0.5

cycled 18,471 kWh, which, divided by 24 kWh capacity, we 2

0.4
0.3
obtain Nfull_cycles = 770 full cycles. This value is quite low for 0.2
Li-ion [8], and the real full cycles to failure of the battery can 1
0.1
be much higher. We will suppose the battery must be replaced 0 0
after Nfull_cycles = 1,200 full cycles—i.e., 1,200 cycles · 24 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

kWh/cycle = 28,000 kWh energy could be cycled during its Hour of the day

lifetime. Considering the average consumption shown before,

the EV can be driven: 28,800 kWh / (18.46 kWh/100 km) = Fig. 4. Case of private battery. Energy during each hour of a typical day
156,000 km. (load of the house, battery charge, battery discharge) and SOC of the battery.

TABLE I. TABLE II.

RentalDiff (€) 432 350 300 250 200 Nfull_cycles 1,200 1,500 1,800 2,000 2,400
Pr_elecDiff_needed Pr_elecDiff_needed
0.2853 0.2312 0.1982 0.1651 0.1321 0.2470 0.1975 0.1646 0.1482 0.1235
(€/kWh) (€/kWh)
 VI. SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS ACKNOWLEDGMENT
A sensitivity analysis has been done for the case of the This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y
private battery. In section V, we have considered a cost of Competitividad of the Spanish Government under Project
5,900 € for the acquisition of the 24 kWh battery (with a ENE2013-48517-C2-1-R.
specific cost of 245.8 €/kWh). Now, a sensitivity analysis
varying the specific cost and the number of full cycles has
been done (Fig. 5). The cases of the battery cost of 200 €/kWh REFERENCES
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