EAGER: Integrated Planning and Operation of Electricity-Transportation Networks for Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging

Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX

Investigators

Abstract

Several cutting-edge technologies are expected to fundamentally change the way engineers would plan, design and operate the highway infrastructure system. Among these technologies are electric vehicles with in-motion wireless charging capabilities. Unlike the widely available plug-in electric vehicles, the new technology enables vehicles to charge wirelessly while traveling via charging pads installed along the highway links. This emerging technology is expected to increase the travel range of the electric vehicles, and hence improve its social acceptance, which ultimately leads to reducing dependence on conventional fuel resources for transportation. This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) project is motivated by the need to develop an integrated framework for policy making, planning and operation management of wireless charging technology in urban transportation networks. This framework addresses several conceptual and methodological complexities inherited in the interconnected transportation-electricity infrastructure systems, and provides necessary tools to design and operate such complex infrastructure systems. The successful completion of this EAGER is expected to advance the development of sustainable transportation infrastructure systems characterized by reduced greenhouse gas generation and improved urban mobility. The interdisciplinary research involves the collaboration of expertise in the areas of planning and operation of electrical power networks, transportation network modeling and traffic operation management, and operations research and system engineering. The collaborative environment leads to rapid dissemination of knowledge and discovery results to the research and education community, and stimulates educational development in sustainable transportation. The framework incorporates mathematical formulations and cutting-edge solution methodologies representing the mutual interactions between policy making efforts to promote electric vehicle technology, and market-driven coordinated expansion planning and network design in the hybrid electricity and transportation infrastructure systems. The market-driven structure is presented by complementarity models with non-convex feasible set that capture the demand elasticity and policy-driven incentives. The competition in electricity and transportation network operation is presented by hierarchical oligopoly structure coupling equilibrium problems with equilibrium constraints. Each problem represents non-cooperative multi-leader-follower game with incomplete information to model the strategic behavior of the participants. The effectiveness of the solutions are validated through developing a high-resolution agent-based simulation platform which represents the integrated operation of the traffic and electricity networks considering multiple scenarios representing the uncertainty in the operation environment.