Online EV Charge Scheduling Based on Time-of-Use Pricing and Peak Load Minimization: Properties and Efficient Algorithms

Electric vehicles (EVs) endow great potentials for future transportation systems, while efficient charge scheduling strategies are crucial for improving profits and mass adoption of EVs. Two critical and open issues concerning EV charging are how to minimize the total charging cost (Objective 1) and how to minimize the peak load (Objective 2). Although extensive efforts have been made to model EV charging problems, little information is available about model properties and efficient algorithms for dynamic charging problems. This paper aims to fill these gaps. For Objective 1, we demonstrate that the greedy-choice property applies, which means that a globally optimal solution can be achieved by making locally optimal greedy choices, whereas it does not apply to Objective 2. We propose a non-myopic charging strategy accounting for future demands to achieve global optimality for Objective 2. The problem is addressed by a heuristic algorithm combining a multi-commodity network flow model with customized bisection search algorithm in a rolling horizon framework. To expedite the solution efficiency, we derive the upper bound and lower bound in the bisection search based on the relationship between charging volume and parking time. We also explore the impact of demand levels and peak arrival ratios on the system performance. Results show that with prediction, the peak load can converge to a globally optimal solution, and that an optimal look-ahead time exists beyond which any prediction is ineffective. The proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithms, and is robust to the variations of demand and peak arrival ratios.