Work

Optimal pricing and hybrid relocation in a free-floating carsharing system with battery swapping electric vehicles

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Unlike the conventional station-based carsharing service, free-floating carsharing service with electric vehicles allows for picking up and returning vehicles at any parking locations, offering a more flexible and convenient carsharing service for users. However, the limited driving range of electric vehicles remains a significant operational barrier. In this study, we consider the carsharing service that adopts battery swapping electric vehicles, which will be replaced with fully charged battery at battery swapping stations . In such a system, EV charging time is nearly negligible, however, EV relocation for both EV recharging and supply–demand balancing becomes crucial in the service operation. Both user-based relocation motivated by compensation scheme and traditional staff-based relocation are considered. Basically, the primary objective of this study is to determine the optimal operational strategies for a free-floating vehicle carsharing service with battery swapping vehicles (FEVCS-BS). We formulate a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model to investigate how users’ choices are affected by compensation scheme while jointly optimizing the operational strategies including hybrid relocation, fleet size, vehicle allocation, and trip assignment in a FEVCS-BS system, with the aim of profit maximization. To address the model’s nonlinearity and nonconvexity, we adopt an outer–inner approximation method enhanced by a range reduction technique to obtain the global optimum. For large-scale instances, we propose a two-stage heuristic algorithm that integrates surrogate optimization with a rolling horizon framework to efficiently generate near-optimal solutions. Numerical experiments demonstrate the profitability improvement of hybrid relocation by 2 % − 4 % , while providing some managerial suggestions for operators.

Source: Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies

DOI: 10.1016/j.trc.2025.105212

Authors: Yitong Yu, David Z.W. Wang, Qingyun Tian, Shaojun Liu

Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Language: English

Topic: Transportation and Mobility Innovations

Subfield: Automotive Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,040