Optimizing Energy and Time for Electric Vehicle Charging Routes

Abstract

This article investigates energy-efficient, charging-aware route planning for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) while accounting for uncertainties in charging station availability and time-varying traffic conditions. The study focuses on integrating recharge scheduling into route planning, addressing challenges such as limited charging infrastructure, intermittent access, and temporal factors like charger waiting times based on availability, charging durations, and fluctuating traffic conditions. A time-aware charging selection algorithm is introduced to adjust schedules based on operating costs and time components, such as traffic-dependent travel times, waiting times, and charging times. The case study shows that time-adaptive recharging planning increases energy consumption by 1.6%, while reducing travel time by 12% and costs by 14% compared to the baseline, which does not account for temporal impacts. Additionally, it provides insights into the preferences and timing factors in charging station selection that contribute to these differences. The findings highlight the importance of considering time factors such as waiting and recharging times in the planning of electric vehicle (EV) operations.