JOINT OPTIMIZATION OF VEHICLE-TO-GRID FACILITIES AND PARKING AND CHARGING SERVICES IN THE ERA OF ELECTRIC AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) is a technology that enables energy to be pushed back to the power grid from the battery of an electric vehicle. The deployment of V2G facilities has provided opportunities for utilizing electric autonomous vehicles (EAVs) as temporary storage for excessive energy, which helps balance out electricity demand and avoid any unnecessary costs associated with electricity system expansion. This paper examines the joint user equilibrium of travel route choice and parking or charging choice with respect to two kinds of travelers who need to park or charge their EAVs, respectively. Specifically, we consider that travelers who want to park their EAVs can make their decisions on parking or V2G parking services, and travelers who need to charge their EAVs can make their decisions on charging or V2G charging services. Subject to the joint user equilibrium in the lower level, we investigate the optimal operation decisions of the service operators regarding the service fare and capacity in different market regimes in the upper level, where the operators, i.e., parking, charging and V2G operators, will compete/cooperate with each other to maximize their benefits. Solution approaches are introduced to solve the joint user equilibrium and the proposed bi-level model. Numerical studies are conducted to illustrate the model and analytical results, and to provide further understanding that how the V2G service should be operated in real-life applications.