# Impact of the Integration of the Electric Vehicle on Low-Voltage Rural Networks
## 1 Introduction  
Global emissions from the transport sector contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 24% of direct carbon dioxide (CO\({}_{2}\)) and playing a substantial role in climate change [1]. Electric vehicles (EVs) using electricity obtained from low-carbon sources can help significantly to reduce CO\({}_{2}\) emissions from the transport sector, while decreasing emissions of other air pollutants such as particles and NOx[2, 3]. It has also been shown that the emission reductions are maintained regardless of the type of vehicle, sedan, susv or pickup [4]. For these reasons, many countries have adopted measures to encourage using vehicles with more efficient combustion engines (with lower emissions) or electric vehicles. These measures include mainly much more restrictive emission regulations and low-emission zones in major cities [5]. As a result, many automobile manufacturers have begun to emphasize the development of various types of electric vehicles. These include battery electric vehicles, which operate solely on the energy stored in their batteries, and plug-in hybrid vehicles, which run on a combination of battery and combustion engines [6]. From an end-user perspective, there are still barriers to the transition to electric vehicles, such as high prices, limited range and lack of charging infrastructure. To introduce electric vehicles in the transport sector, many countries have set ambitious targets that, combined with the possible increase in the price of fossil fuels in the coming years, will lead to the deployment of electric vehicle technologies [7]. The massive adoption of these vehicles could have an undesirable impact on the electricity system, especially on distribution networks, which would compromise their stability, creating new challenges for distribution system operators [8]. Some authors proposed load-shifting strategies to reschedule electric vehicle charging during periods of lower gridload by controlling the load [9] or even moving charging periods to nighttime [10]. These strategies allow for mitigating the effects on the grid but highlight that policies should be implemented to enable an orderly way of charging electric vehicles, maximizing their penetration while minimizing the impact on the grid. The possible harmful consequences of massive electrical vehicle deployments would include imbalances between the different phases of the three-phase system, voltage drops, and overloading of network components. Such effects would mostly occur during periods of simultaneous charging of a large number of vehicles due to the limited power that the distribution network can supply [11]. To help grid operators detect and assess potential grid congestion due to the electrification of private vehicles, accurate models are needed to determine the charging energy and power demand of battery electric vehicles with high spatial and temporal resolution. Different approaches to this problem can be found in the literature. The complete decarbonization of Australia's electricity and transport system was considered by [PERSON] et al. [12], detecting a 40% increase in electricity demand with a 4% to 8% increase in the levelized cost of electricity. However, if the effect of charging many vehicles in the afternoon peak period was considered, the average energy price increased by 18%. The effects on city networks were studied by several authors. [PERSON] et al. [13] developed a model to analyze the potential additional electric load on the Reykjavik power grid due to the integration of electric vehicles (EVs) and according to different pro-EV policies, showing that the power system could face stresses with a potential peak load increase of up to 114% during the study period. [PERSON] et al. [14] propose a novel approach to develop an activity-based model that does not require traffic flow data as input parameters.