Charging an Electric Vehicle-Sharing Fleet

AboutSectionsView PDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Go to Section HomeManufacturing & Service Operations ManagementVol. 23, No. 2 Charging an Electric Vehicle-Sharing FleetLong He , Guangrui Ma , Wei Qi , Xin Wang Long He , Guangrui Ma , Wei Qi , Xin Wang Published Online:3 Apr 2020https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2019.0851AbstractProblem definition: Many cities worldwide are embracing electric vehicle (EV) sharing as a flexible and sustainable means of urban transit. However, it remains challenging for the operators to charge the fleet because of limited or costly access to charging facilities. In this paper, we focus on answering the core question—how to charge the fleet to make EV sharing viable and profitable. Academic/practical relevance: Our work is motivated by the setback that struck San Diego, California, where car rental company car2go ceased its EV-sharing operations. We integrate charging infrastructure planning and vehicle repositioning operations that were often considered separately. More interestingly, our modeling emphasizes the operator-controlled charging operations and customers’ EV-picking behavior, which are both central to EV sharing but were largely overlooked. Methodology: Supported by the real data of car2go, we develop a queuing network model that characterizes how customers endogenously pick EVs based on energy levels and how the operator implements a charging-up-to policy. The integrated queuing-location model leads to a nonlinear optimization program. We then propose both lower and upper bound formulations as mixed-integer second-order cone programs, which are computationally tractable and result in a small optimality gap when the fleet size is adequate. Results: We learn lessons from the setback of car2go in San Diego. We find that the viability of EV sharing can be enhanced by concentrating limited charger resources at selected locations. Charging EVs either in a proactive fashion or at the 40% recharge threshold (rather than car2go’s policy of charging EVs only when their energy level drops below 20%) can boost the profit by more than 15%. Moreover, sufficient charger availability is crucial when collaborating with a public charger network. Increasing the charging power relieves the charger resource constraint, whereas extending per-charge range or adopting unmanned repositioning improves profitability. Finally, we discuss how EV sharing operations depend on the urban spatial structure, compared with conventional car sharing. Managerial implications: We demonstrate a data-verified and high-granularity modeling approach. Both the high-level planning guidelines and operational policies can be useful for practitioners. We also highlight the value of jointly managing demand fulfillment and EV charging. Previous Back to Top Next FiguresReferencesRelatedInformationCited byTutorial on prescriptive analytics for logistics: What to predict and how to predictElectronic Research Archive, Vol. 31, No. 4Cooperative Learning for Smart Charging of Shared Autonomous Vehicle FleetsRamin Ahadi, Wolfgang Ketter, John Collins, Nicolò Daina14 December 2022 | Transportation Science, Vol. 0, No. 0A Game-Theoretic Approach for Dynamic Service Scheduling at Charging FacilitiesIEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vol. 23, No. 12Performance evaluation and optimization of design parameters for electric vehicle-sharing platforms by considering vehicle dynamicsTransportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 166Smart Charging of Electric Vehicles: An Innovative Business Model for Utility FirmsOwen Q. 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Qiu8 December 2020 | Service Science, Vol. 12, No. 4Service Operations of Electric Vehicle Sharing Systems from the Perspectives of Supply and Demand: A Literature ReviewSSRN Electronic Journal, Vol. 20 Volume 23, Issue 2March–April 2021Pages 267-545, C2 Article Information Supplemental Materials Metrics Information Received:August 14, 2018Accepted:September 07, 2019Published Online:April 03, 2020 Copyright © 2020, INFORMSCite asLong He, Guangrui Ma, Wei Qi, Xin Wang (2020) Charging an Electric Vehicle-Sharing Fleet. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 23(2):471-487. https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2019.0851 Keywordssmart city operationselectric vehiclescar sharingcharging infrastructurePDF download