Electric vehicle fast charging system powered from high speed railway lines

This thesis is about fast charging electric cars in motorways service areas by using high speed lines to deliver the power necessary. The need to reduce pollution, the relatively low cost of ownership and the new exhaust fumes scandal will probably lead to an increase in electric car sales. Electric cars also need a fast charging stations network to allow owners to quickly charge their batteries when they drive relatively long routes. This means building charging station in motorway service areas with the problem of finding a suitable electric power source. A possible solution is the high speed railway line, because it can power a high load and it can be relatively near the motorway itself. The first step in solving the problem was modelling the 2 x 25 kV system used to feed the railway. The model is made using the Simpowersystems tool in MATLAB to simulate the railway itself. The same tool has been used to simulate the battery charger and the system as a whole in the two successive steps. The results show the idea can work in a real situation, but if more than twenty 100 kW charging bays are required in each direction or the line topology is changed for whatever reason, it can not be guaranteed the railway system is able to provide the additional power requested.