Nationwide impact and vehicle to grid application of electric vehicles mobility using an activity based model

This paper describes the impact of electric mobility on the transmission grid in Flanders region (Belgium), using a micro-simulation activity based models. These models are used to provide temporal and spatial estimation of energy and power demanded by electric vehicles (EVs) in different mobility zones. The increment in the load demand due to electric mobility is added to the background load demand in these mobility areas and the effects over the transmission substations are analyzed. From this information, the total storage capacity per zone is evaluated and some strategies for EV aggregator are proposed, allowing the aggregator to fulfill bids on the electricity markets

Vehicle to vehicle energy exchange in smart grid applications

This paper presents a novel vehicle to vehicle energy exchange market (V2VEE) between electric vehicles (EVs) for decreasing the energy cost to be paid by some users whose EVs must be recharged during the day to fulfil their daily scheduled trips and also reducing the impact of charging on the electric grid. EVs with excess of energy in their batteries can transfer this energy among other EVs which need charge during their daily trips. These second type of owners can buy the energy directly to the electric grid or they can buy the energy from other EV at lower price. An aggregator is responsible for collecting all information among vehicles located in the same area at the same time and make possible this energy transfer

Estimating Scalability Issues While Finding an Optimal Assignment for Carpooling

AbstractAn automatic service to match commuting trips has been designed. Candidate carpoolers register their personal profile and a set of periodically recurring trips. The Global CarPooling Matching Service (GCPMS) shall advise registered candidates on how to combine their commuting trips by carpooling. Planned periodic trips correspond to nodes in a graph; the edges are labeled with the probability for negotiation success while trying to merge planned trips by carpooling. The probability values are calculated by a learning mechanism using on one hand the registered person and trip characteristics and on the other hand the negotiation feedback. The GCPMS provides advice by maximizing the expected value for negotiation success. This paper describes possible ways to determine the optimal advice and estimates computational scalability using real data for Flanders

Analysis of the Co-routing Problem in Agent-based Carpooling Simulation

AbstractCarpooling can cut costs and help to solve congestion problems but does not seem to be popular. Behavioral models allow to study the incentives and inhibitors for carpooling and the aggregated effect on the transportation system. In activity based modeling used for travel forecasting, cooperation between actors is important both for schedule planning and revision. Carpooling requires cooperation while commuting which in turn involves co-scheduling and co-routing. The latter requires combinatorial optimization. Agent-based systems used for activity based modeling, contain large amounts of agents. The agent model requires helper algorithms that deliver high quality solutions to embedded optimisation problems using a small amount of resources. Those algorithms are invoked thousands of times during agent society evolution and schedule execution simulation. Solution quality shall be sufficient in order to guarantee realistic agent behavior. This paper focuses on the co-routing problem

Agent-based Simulation Model for Long-term Carpooling: Effect of Activity Planning Constraints

AbstractIn order to commute by carpooling, individuals need to communicate, negotiate and coordinate, and in most cases adapt their daily schedule to enable cooperation. Through negotiation, agents (individuals) can reach complex agreements in an iterative way, which meets the criteria for the successful negotiation. The procedure of negotiation and trip execution in the long-term carpooling consists of a number of steps namely; (i) decision to carpool, (ii) exploration and communication, (iii) negotiation, (iv) coordination and schedule adaptation, (v) long term trip execution (carpooling), (vi) negotiation during carpooling and (vii) carpool termination and exploration for new carpool. This paper presents a conceptual design of an agent-based model (ABM) of a set of candidate carpoolers. A proof of concept implementation is presented. The proposed model is used for simulating the interactions between autonomous agents. The model enables communication to trigger the negotiation process; it measures the effect of pick-drop and shopping activities on the carpooling trips. Carpooling for commuting is simulated: we consider a set of two intermediate trips (home-to-work and work-to-home) for the long-term carpooling. Schedule adaptation during negotiation depends on personal preferences. Trip timing and duration are crucial factors. We carried out a validation study of our results with real data (partial) collected in Flanders, Belgium. Simulation results show the effect of constraining activities on the carpooling trips. The future research will mainly focus on enhancing the mechanisms for communication and negotiation between agents

Determining electric vehicle charging point locations considering drivers' daily activities

In this paper the daily temporal and spatial behavior of electric vehicles (EVs) is modelled using an activity-based (ActBM) microsimulation model for Flanders region (Belgium). Assuming that all EVs are completely charged at the beginning of the day, this mobility model is used to determine the percentage of Flemish vehicles that cannot cover their programmed daily trips and need to be recharged during the day. Assuming a variable electricity price, an optimization algorithm determines when and where EVs can be recharged at minimum cost for their owners. This optimization takes into account the individual mobility constraint for each vehicle, as they can only be charged when the car is stopped and the owner is performing an activity. From this information, the aggregated electric demand for Flanders is obtained, identifying the most overloaded areas at the critical hours. Finally it is also analyzed what activities EV owners are underway during their recharging period. From this analysis, different actions for public charging point deployment in different areas and for different activities are proposed

Modeling Demand Responsive Transport using SARL and MATSim

Demand responsive collective transportation might be a solution to serve thin flows that occur when the average demand per time unit for travel between particular locations is small. Small capacity and/or specially equipped vehicles are deployed to serve low population density areas and mobility impaired passengers. The variability of the demand and the low vehicle capacity require daily optimal planning of routes. The cost for daily tours heavily depends on the temporal and spatial distribution of the demand. This paper proposes a co-simulation model to evaluate the profitability of thin flow service providers over multiple years of operation under specific condition of public compensation (subsidizing)

Peer to peer energy trading with electric vehicles

This paper presents a novel peer-to-peer energy trading system between two sets of electric vehicles, which significantly reduces the impact of the charging process on the power system during business hours. This trading system is also economically beneficial for all the users involved in the trading process. An activity-based model is used to predict the daily agenda and trips of a synthetic population for Flanders (Belgium). These drivers can be initially classified into three sets; after discarding the set of drivers who will be short of energy without charging chances due to their tight schedule, we focus on the two remaining relevant sets: those who complete all their daily trips with an excess of energy in their batteries and those who need to (and can) charge their vehicle during some daily stops within their scheduled trips. These last drivers have the chance to individually optimize their energy cost in the time-space dimensions, taking into account the grid electricity price and their mobility constraints. Then, collecting all the available offer/demand information among vehicles parked in the same area at the same time, an aggregator determines an optimal peer-to-peer price per area and per time slot, allowing customers with excess of energy in their batteries to share with benefits this good with other users who need to charge their vehicles during their daily trips. Results show that, when applying the proposed trading system, the energy cost paid by these drivers at a specific time slot and in a specific area can be reduced up to 71%

Bicycle parking in station areas in the Netherlands

Cities in the Netherlands have encouraged cycling in order to create a more healthy, liveable and sustainable environment. Accordingly, cycling has become an important travel mode in cities for both unimodal and multimodal travel. Consequently, the increase of bicycle use results in an increase in the demand for bicycle parking, thus encouraging illegal bicycle in station areas where supply is unable to meet demand. As space becomes scarce in these areas, managing the existing parking supply becomes crucial in the urban environment. This research attempts to explain bicycle parking behavior by finding determinants for parking near a station with a metro service, train service or both services at the same location. The results not only show that the determinants for parking in these station areas differ, but also that each station areas attracts different groups of people

Identifying bicycle trip impediments by data fusion

A set of GPS traces for bicyclists and a set of notifications by bicyclists of problematic situations (spots identified by GPS records) had been collected independently. The data collection periods did not coincide but overlapped and none was contained in the other one. The aim is to use both datasets to determine an optimal action plan for problem solving given a limited budget. First, problematic locations are clustered. Each cluster corresponds to an impediment. Impediments are then associated with trips using a distance function. The aim is to find out which impediments to solve under a given budget constraint in order to maximize the number of impediment free trips. Thereto the trip set is partitioned by matching each trip with the largest set of its affecting impediments. Solving all impediments in such set induces a cost and makes the associated part of trips impediment free. An optimizer is presented and evaluated. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V