Techno-Economic Analysis and Feasibility Studies of Electric Vehicle Charging Station

Recent United Nations high-level dialogue on energy, which had emphasized on energy usage and environmental protection, has renewed commitments by different countries on the adoption of electric vehicle (EVs). This paper aims to analyze the economic feasibility of establishing electrical charging stations, which is an important factor for the wide adoption of EVs, using life cycle cost analysis. Although local data have been used, the method can be easily adopted to analyze economic feasibility at different markets. The findings have revealed that an electrical charging station is only feasible when the acquisition cost is kept to a minimum to return 1.47 times the initial investment in terms of life cycle cost. An acquisition cost of BND 29,725 on the electrical charging station represents the threshold below which an electrical charging station is more attractive. In order to promote these charging stations, the government needs to provide multiple incentives, including a subsidy to reduce the acquisition cost, relaxing control on the electric selling price, taxing the establishment of conventional filling stations, and minimally reducing the profit margin on the selling price of fossil fuel. It has been shown that a 40% initial subsidy on the purchase of electrical charging stations, coupled with a slight subsidy of BND 0.018/kWh on electricity, would make electrical charging stations economically competitive. To reach its target of 60% electrification of the transportation sector, Brunei would need to implement a structure program to establish between 646 and 3300 electrical charging stations by the year 2035, to cater for its expected number of EVs.

Dynamics of contact electrification

Although the electrical charging of objects brought into contact has been observed for at least 2000 years, the details of the underlying mechanism are still not yet fully understood. The present paper deals with the very basic process of contact electrification between two metals. We have developed an experimental method to follow the charge of a small sphere bouncing on a grounded planar electrode on a time scale down to 1 μs. It reveals that the sphere is discharged in the moment of contact, which lasts about 6 to 8 μs. However, at the very moment of disruption of the electrical contact, it regains charge far beyond the expectation according to the contact potential difference. The excess charge rises with increasing contact area.