EV charging station integrated with electric railway system powering by train regenerative braking energy

During the last years, investment in developing electric vehicles (EVs) has been increased as an important strategy by nations to reduce carbon emission and consumption of fossil fuels. On the other side, the power supplying of multitudinous EV charging stations (EVChSs) may overload the utility grid and cause indirect emissions. However, a substantial content of electric energy is generated by applying regenerative braking in electric railway systems (ERSs). Integration of ERSs and EVChSs in the strategic points, like parking areas close to ERS stations or rail freight intermodal terminals with targeted exploitation of trains regenerative braking energy (RBE) as an ancillary supply, can improve the energy efficiency in EVChSs and reduce the cost. In this paper, a new method is proposed to charge EVs by transferring RBE from ERS to EVChS taking advantage of interface power electronics converters. In the proposed strategy, a railway power flow controller (RPFC) integrated with DC/DC converter has been adopted to restore RBE. The simulation results are provided to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.