Electric Vehicle Fleet Relocation Management for Sharing Systems based on Incentive Mechanism

TL;DR

This paper proposes an incentive-based approach to electric vehicle fleet relocation in sharing systems, involving users through rewards to reduce operational costs and improve service efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a novel incentive mechanism combined with ILP models to effectively involve users and staff in EV relocation management.

Findings

Incentive scheme reduces relocation costs.

ILP models optimize user and staff involvement.

Case study demonstrates practical application.

Abstract

This paper deals with the electric vehicle fleet relocation management in a sharing system. The mobility sharing systems efficiency depends on the vehicles relocation task that strongly affect the company operating cost, and consequently the service price for users. The proposed approach aims at minimizing the cost of vehicles relocation for a sharing company by involving users through an innovative incentive scheme. The idea is to request users of the sharing service to relocate the EVs, e.g. through an IT application, incentivizing them by free-of-charge travels and rewards. The proposed incentive mechanism is based on the application of different levels of incentive proposal. In addition, in case of user unavailability, the vehicle relocation is guaranteed by the company staff. To this aim, a first ILP is formalized to manage the relocation task by the company staff. Moreover, a second ILP allows the company to involve users in the relocation process by the proposed incentive mechanism. Finally, a case study is presented to show the application of the proposed methodology on the relocation of electric cars and light electric vehicles.