Energy 165 (2018) 549e562

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Multi-objective optimum charging management of electric vehicles

through battery swapping stations
Saeed Salimi Amiri, Shahram Jadid*, Hedayat Saboori
School of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The rapid growth of electric vehicle (EV) penetration is promoted by fossil fuels depletion, environmental
Received 18 April 2018 concerns, and energy efficiency initiatives. Battery charging time duration is of the main obstacles to
Received in revised form large-scale deployment of this technology. Battery swapping station (BSS) is a new concept to handle this
26 July 2018
issue in which depleted EV batteries are replaced with a previously full-charged one at a significantly less
Accepted 25 September 2018
time duration. To this end, the optimum location of the EV charging among BSSs in the network in
Available online 28 September 2018
addition to the priority charging of the depleted batteries in each BSS should be determined. In this
context, the present paper is to perform these tasks optimally and simultaneously. The problem is
Keywords:
Battery swapping station
formulated as a multi-objective programming model in which three non-homogenous objectives are
Electric vehicle charge timing taken into account and solved using the NSGA II algorithm. Two cost-based objectives including mini-
Multi-objective programming mizing EV batteries charging and power loss cost along with two technical based objectives, comprising
Dynamic pricing voltage profile flattening and network capacity releasing, are considered. Additionally, besides dynamic
NSGA-II pricing scheme, a time window method to prevent interruptions in the battery charging is developed.
The proposed model is implemented on 33-bus IEEE test system where the results demonstrate its
functionality.
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
A considerable share of the air pollution and greenhouse effects
is pertaining to the utilization of fossil-fueled public and private
transportation fleet. In addition, continuing the deployment of
conventional cars, leads to the faster depletion along with the
growing price of the fossil fuels. One of the main solutions to
overcome these obstacles is adopting electric vehicles (EVs) [1e3].
In the past decades, various types of the EVs have been developed
and commercialized including battery electric vehicle, hybrid
electric vehicle, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle [4].
One of the major problems against massive utilization of the EVs
is long charging time duration of the included batteries [5]. Besides,
massive utilization of EVs can produce considerable problems for
grid operators because of adding an uncertain and large-scale load
[6,7]. Fast charging stations based on the new power electronic
circuits are proposed to lessen charging time duration. However,
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: salimi_s@elec.iust.ac.ir (S.S. Amiri), jadid@iust.ac.ir (S. Jadid),
h_saboori@elec.iust.ac.ir (H. Saboori).
fast chargers are pursuing their technological development and are
not matured in terms of widespread use, yet. In addition, fast
chargers cannot solve the uncertainty and huge power consump-
tion which may occur in peak periods potentially [8].
Recently, battery swapping station (BSS) concept have been
proposed as a new mean to handle the long charging duration [9].
The BSS is based on the fact that the depleted EV battery can be
replaced fast with a full-charged one. It should be noted that the
gathered depleted batteries will be charged at off-peak time pe-
riods without the long charging time duration concerns [10].
Charging the batteries in off-peak time periods by the BSS will
lessen the stress on the network in the peak periods caused by the
EVs charging power as a byproduct. Furthermore, by using the BSS,
the uncertainty in the time of the EVs charging will be disappeared
thanks to the fact that the batteries will be charged at a proper
predetermined time period [11].
In this context, various methods have been proposed to
schedule the BSS in the distribution grid. In Ref. [8], performances
of the BSS and the fast charging station were compared. Due to the
parameters which are considered in this paper, BSS is more suitable
for public transportation system and also more profit will be gained

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2018.09.167
0360-5442/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
550 S.S. Amiri et al. / Energy 165 (2018) 549e562

Nomenclature PtCh Active power consumption of BSSs at time slot t

BSS;B
PLocg ;g;t
Active power demanded by BSS k at time slot t before
T Total number of time slots
s Time span of each time slot determining the place of time window for group g
BSS;A
n Total number of EVs PLocg ;g;t
Active power demanded by BSS k at time slot t after
G Total number of EV groups determining the place of time window for group g
K Total number of BSSs Ch;BSS
Pk;t Active power consumption of BSS k at time slot t
Nb Total number of network buses
nb Total number of network branches PtLoss Active power loss of network branches at time slot t
Ch;A
Durg Number of time slots which group g needed to be Pg;t Active power consumption of the BSSs at time slot t
fully charged after determining the place of time window for group
St AP Predefined step for active power g
St Pr Predefined step for electricity price PtCh;ALTPC Active power demand of BSSs right after the last time
a Regulating coefficient pertaining to determining the that its alternation made the Prices change
number of batteries in each BSS Load
Pi;t Active power of total load connected to bus i
a; b; g; y Penalty coefficients Load
Qi;t Reactive power of total load connected to bus i
nBS;Max Maximum permitted battery swapping (or number of
batteries) considered for each BSS Sb;t Apparent power value flowing through branch b at
Rl Resistance of branch l time slot t
xg Decision variable pertaining to charging priority of SMax
b;t
Maximum permitted Apparent power Value flowing
group g through branch b at time slot t
yg Decision variable pertaining to battery swapping SLoad Apparent power of total load connected to bus i at
i;t
location (Bus number) of group g time slot t
Prog Charging priority of group g in output answer of the
EtCh;Loss Energy consumption pertaining to charging EVs and
program
Loss at time slot t
Locg Charging location (Bus number) of group g in output
answer of the program EtCh Energy consumption of BSSs (for charging EVs) at
W Decision variable vector time slot t
nBS Number of battery swapping pertaining to BSS k EtLoss Energy loss of network branches at time slot t
k
TWg Time slots surrounded by time window of group g ft Electricity purchase price for time slot t
after its final settlement PriBg;t Electricity purchase price at time slot t before
nCTW Number of possible places for time window of group determining the place of time window for group g
g
g PriAg;t Electricity purchase price at time slot t after
tg Time slot number which time window of group g can determining the place of time window for group g
start from CTW
Cg; electricity purchase price pertaining to time window
tg
Il;t Current flowing through branch l at time slot t of group g which starts from time slot tg
Load
Ii;t Current of total load connected to bus i DurgA Number of time slots which the group g needs to be
Vi;t Voltage magnitude of bus i at time slot t fully charged after determining the place of its time
Min
Vi;t Minimum permitted voltage magnitude of bus i at window
PVCi;t Penalty of voltage constraint for bus i at time slot t
time slot t
Max PAPCb;t Penalty of apparent power constraint for branch b at
Vi;t Maximum permitted voltage magnitude of bus i at
time slot t
time slot t
PNBSCk Penalty pertaining to NBS constraint for BSS k
PtRes Residential active power consumption of network
PCASBCg Penalty pertaining to CASB constraint for group g
(without EVs charging) at time slot t
TPVC Total penalty of voltage constraint
PtMax Maximum permitted active power consumption of TPAPC Total penalty of Apparent Power Constraint
the network at time slot t TPNBSC Total Penalty pertaining to NBS constraint
PtRem Remaining active power at time slot t (for EVs TPCASBC Total Penalty pertaining to CASB constraint
charging) c Sum of all penalty functions in the optimization
Rem;B problem
Pg;t Remaining active power at time slot t before
determining the place of time window for group g zi objective function i in the multi-objective problem
Rem;A
Pg;t Remained active power at time slot t after zM
i Modified objective function i in the multi-objective
problem
determining the place of time window for group g
PgCh;G Active power demanded to charge group g

by station owners if the BSS is employed. In Refs. [12] and [13], than private cars owing to the fact that trip route and stations are
charging of the electric buses are scheduled by the BSS. Applying predefined. In this context, in Ref. [12], a stochastic model based on
BSS in order to schedule electric buses charging is more applicable the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) is developed to assess
 S.S. Amiri et al. / Energy 165 (2018) 549e562 551

uncontrolled and intermittent energy consumption of the BSS. In 2. The proposed model
that work, a practical case is also considered to implement the
proposed model. In Ref. [13], the purpose of scheduling is that each In this section, the idea and components of the proposed model
time a bus is arrived at a BSS, a battery is full charged previously are explained entirely. First, the model is described in terms of the
and ready to deploy. In addition, to accelerate the simulation run- structure, concept, and assumptions. Second, mathematical
time, a dual decomposition technique is used so that independent expression of the model including objectives and constraints are
sub-problems can be handled in parallel. In Refs. [14] and [15], the presented. At last, the employed solution method is introduced in
problem of BSS scheduling in context of electricity market is detail.
considered. In Ref. [14], an operation model and business case for
the BSSs is developed. In the proposed model, the BSSs will be
2.1. Problem description
scheduled in the day-ahead clearing process to maximize profit
while uncertainty of the market prices is considered by multi-band
Battery swapping station (BSS) is a promising solution to over-
robust optimization. In Ref. [15], a dynamic operation strategy in
come long battery charge time of the electric vehicles. In addition,
electricity market for the BSSs scheduling is proposed base on a
coordinated and centralized charging, offered in this method, not
short-term period. The proposed model maximizes the BSS profit
only handle charging uncertainties drawbacks, but also can
via dynamically responding to market price fluctuations.
enhance grid reliability and economics [8,14,17]. In this context, the
The BSS concept can be implemented in a microgrid or a
problem is that where each vehicle should swap its battery.
network of microgrids instead of distribution networks. This idea,
Furthermore, the charging order of the depleted batteries in the
i.e., energy management and operation optimization of vehicle
BSSs should be determined.
charging by BSSs within a microgrid is considered in Ref. [16]. In
In this paper, the aforementioned problems are addressed
this work both grid-connected and island mode of the microgrid
simultaneously in an optimization problem framework. To handle
operation are considered and relevant optimization models are
the case, it is supposed that there is an area wherein an aggregator
proposed. In grid-connected operation, a price-incentive model
manages its owned installed BSSs. Also, the distances between BSSs
tries to minimize EV charging cost along with maximizing BSS
are short enough so that the transportation time among them is
benefit. In island condition operation, a fuzzy control approach is
negligible and thus not considered. The BSSs absorb only active
utilized to produce the service price.
power from the grid, meaning that they have unity power factor,
Planning and operation of the BSSs in the distribution network
owing to the fact that the stations possess reactive power
will influence on system reliability as studied in Refs. [17,18]. As
compensation devices to offset the power factor. For the sake of
indicated by the authors in these works, to enhance reliability of
simplicity and without loss of generality, the vehicles are divided in
the system by optimal BSSs scheduling, the behavior of EV users
groups each one consists of the same number of vehicles.
should be extracted first. Finally, in Ref. [19] with the objectives of
The goal of the proposed model is to charge the whole swapped
energy efficiency and emission reduction, a real-time battery swap
batteries economically while ensuring network security. To this
pricing scheme is proposed for the BSSs. The project is developed
end, a multi-objective optimization model is proposed. The devel-
and implemented in china and to charge especially electric taxis.
oped objective functions are generally categorized into two types.
The authors have proposed various battery swap pricing schemes
The former objective category is composed of the two terms rep-
and charging policies for the BSSs.
resenting the total charging cost and cost of the energy loss. The
In this paper, location of the battery swapping among the
latter objective category is responsible for enhancing the network
network BSSs and charging priority of depleted batteries gathered
security. To achieve this goal, two indices comprising voltage pro-
are optimized. To this end, a multi-objective model is developed.
file of the network buses and loading burden of the network lines
The considered objectives include two cost-based and two
are considered.
technical-based ones. The cost-based objectives minimize battery
General constraints of the model are related to the network
charging and power loss costs which have identical nature and are
power balance, line flow limitation, voltage magnitude bounds,
summed up. The technical-based objectives include voltage profile
maximum permitted number of battery swapping (NBS) for each
flattening and network capacity releasing. These technical-based
BSS, and charging all of the swapped batteries (CASB). Exercising
objectives are different in nature and regarded as independent
flow and voltage limits on the proposed model makes the operator
ones. In other words, the proposed multi-objective problem, solved
satisfied with the network security bounds. Since each BSS has a
by NSGA-II algorithm, is consists of three different objectives
predefined number of charged batteries ready for swapping, the
including a monetary term (charging and power loss cost), an index
maximum permitted NBS for each BSS is employed as a constraint
for voltage profile flattening, and an index for network capacity
not to allow the program to assign more than the permitted
releasing. Moreover, to prevent interruption in battery charging, a
numbers. Furthermore, in order to assure that all the depleted
novel charge time window concept is proposed. Besides, a dynamic
batteries gathered in BSSs will be charged, another constraint,
pricing scheme is proposed to more practically simulate behavior of
which is named as CASB, is established. For the latter constraint, the
the realistic transactions in the network. The proposed model is
charging algorithm is forced to choose the answer in which
implemented on IEEE 33-bus test system and the results are pre-
charging all of the swapped batteries is considered.
sented and discussed.
In the following, the concept of the charge timing algorithm
The remainder of the paper after this introductory part is as
related to the proposed charging strategy comprising time window
follows. In section 2, the idea and components of the proposed
determination in addition to the dynamic pricing scheme are
model are explained. This section contains problem description,
described.
mathematical model, and solution method of the proposed strat-
egy. Details of the implementing the proposed model on a test case
including case inputs and simulation results are stated in section 3. 2.1.1. Charge timing algorithm
At last, conclusions are presented in section 4. In the proposed optimization problem, every time the charging
priority and location of EV groups are produced, the charging time
552 S.S. Amiri et al. / Energy 165 (2018) 549e562

of each group should be determined. Fig. 1 shows the procedure for

Rem;A Rem;B
vehicles charge timing. After gathering the solutions and required Pg;t ¼ Pg;t  PgCh;G ; ct2 TWg (1)
data, it is necessary in the next step to sort charging priorities. Then,
the group which has the first order charging priority will be picked
PyBSS;A
g ;g;t
¼ PyBSS;B
g ;g;t
þ PgCh;G ; ct2 TWg (2)
up. After that, charging time window (its concept will be explained
in detail, later) for the selected group is determined. Afterwards,
the charging power pertaining to each time slot of the window
should be subtracted from the remained power of that time slot, as
in equation (1). The charging power should also be added to the 2.1.1.1. Time window determination. In order to enhance batteries
previous power of the BSS, in turn. This is declared mathematically life time, the model is developed so that no interruption occurs in
in equation (2). After evaluating equations (1) and (2), all prices will the charging process of any battery group. In other words, if a
be updated. These actions repeat for all groups. battery starts to charge, it will not be stopped until full charging.
Fig. 2 shows how this methodology works. First, the required time
slots to charge the batteries of the selected group considering
forecasted state of charges (SoCs) is estimated. Then, these time
slots are referred as “time window”. The paradigm of the time
window movement on the time horizon is depicted in Fig. 3. As in
the picture, the number of possible places for each window is a
Start function of window size and total number of time slots. It can be
calculated by equation (3). To select the optimum place of the time

Get input
Get solutions
parameters Start

Select first Receive number of required time

Order charging slots for charging selected group
order charging
priority
priority group
Determine all possible places for
the window among time horizon
Determine charging
time window for Evaluate (4) for all the places
selected group
Order ascending

Perform (1) Select the place which

has the lowest price
Go to next
Select next
Perform (2) group order price step
No

Update prices Are all places

Evaluate (5)
checked No
Yes Yes
Are all groups Choose this place
elaborated? Yes for the window

No Refer to (6)

Finish End

Fig. 1. Flowchart of the charge timing algorithm. Fig. 2. Flowchart of the group time window determination.
 S.S. Amiri et al. / Energy 165 (2018) 549e562 553

Time slot number other words, a dynamic pricing scheme should be defined and
employed. To this end, after each time that the time window of each
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 group is settled and the power consumption of the whole BSSs
... calculated respectively, it is time to check that whether it is
necessary to update the prices or not.
The flowchart for the dynamic pricing phase is illustrated in
Fig. 4. As the figure shows, the first time slot is considered. For the
selected time slot, the power demand of BSSs after the last time that
its alternation make the Prices changed is received. Then the al-
gorithm checks whether the demanded active power of BSSs for the
selected time slot is enough to enhance the price a step or not, as
declared by equation (7).

Ch;A
Pg;t  PtCh;ALTPC  St AP (7)

If equation (7) is satisfied, then, a step should be added up to the

price. This routine is iterated for all the time slots. In general, the
outcome of the above procedure can be stated summarily by
...

equation (8).

Fig. 3. The paradigm of the time window movement through the time horizon.
$ Ch;A %
Pg;t  PtCh;ALTPC
PriAg;t ¼ $St Pr þ PriBg;t (8)
window for each group in the time horizon, the price of the whole
St AP
time slots surrounded by the window should be calculated for each
place of the window. This will be performed by (4).

nCTW
g ¼ T  Durg þ 1 (3)

tg þDur n o
Start
Xg 1
CTW
Cg; tg ¼ ft ; ctg 2 1; 2; …; nCTW
g (4)
t¼tg

Then, the prices pertaining to the places of the window should

be sorted in ascending format. Afterwards, the place which has the Consider the
lowest price should be selected. For this place, it should be assessed
that whether the remained power in all time slots, surrounded by
first time slot
the window and also its place, are more than the power con-
sumption of the selected group or not. This assessment is accom-
plished by inequality (5). If this inequality adhere, the place will be
selected as the ultimate window settlement and the number of Evaluate (7)
time slots that the group needs to be fully charged will be zeroed, as No
cited in equality (6). Otherwise, the next place which has a price
step more than the previous one will be evaluated as occurred for Yes
the former one and the two latter processes are be performed. This
action can be performed for all the possible places of the window. It
is possible that for a selected group, no place exists to be chosen as
the settlement of its time window. In this situation, the program Select next Increase power
will continue without considering the charging of this group. In this
paper, a constraint is defined which cause the algorithm to pass up
time slot price a step
these situations in comparison to the other answers.

PgRem;A > PgCh;G ; ct2TWg (5)

Are all time slots
DurgA ¼0 (6)
No considered?

Yes
2.1.1.2. Dynamic pricing. It is obvious that the low energy price of
light load periods attracts BSSs to these time spans thanks to the
total charging costs. This is favorable, in general. But, accumulating
a large number of power demand in these periods may create new finish
peaks. To handle the case and also to calculate the cost of charging
realistically, the price of each time period should be determined so
that it increases with power demand growth, simultaneously. In Fig. 4. Flowchart of the dynamic pricing scheme.
554 S.S. Amiri et al. / Energy 165 (2018) 549e562

2.2. Mathematical modeling

nBS
k n
BS;Max
; ck2f1; 2; …; Kg (19)
The decision variables vector of the optimization problem which
comprises location of battery swapping and charging priority for EV DurgA ¼ 0; cg2f1; 2; …; Gg (20)
(battery) groups, is shown by equation (9).
The maximum permitted NBS for each BSS is calculated by
W ¼ ½x1 ; x2 ; …; xG ; y1 ; y2 ; …; yG  (9) equation (21). In this equation, a regulating coefficient, denoted by
a, is employed to assign the maximum permitted NBS. This coef-
The objective functions of the proposed model are introduced in
ficient, which is greater than unity, guarantees that each BSS ca-
the following equations including (10)e(12). The first objective,
pacity is larger than average batteries dedicated to each station.
denoted by equation (10), is to calculate a cost-based term. The
This average value is calculated by dividing total number of batte-
second one, determines deviation from the nominal voltages over
ries to total number of the BSSs. Due to this equation, it is clear that
the network buses stated by equation (11). Last one, tries to release
this coefficient is equal among all BSSs for simplicity.
capacity of the network lines by balancing power flows through
equation (12). jnk
nBS;Max ¼ a$ (21)
K
X
T
z1 ¼ EtCh;Loss $ft (10) It should be noted that the priority in each bus in terms of power
t¼1 consumption is with the residential loads (all the load of the
network except that of BSSs) rather than BSSs, as presented by
equation (22). The equation denotes that the remained power of
X
Nb X
T  
z2 ¼ Vi;t  1 (11) each bus to be used for charging BSSs will be calculated by sub-
i¼1 t¼1
tracting residential load from the maximum allowable power
consumption at the time slot t. In addition, equation (23) shows
that each BSS can be charged maximally with the remained power
X T 
nb X 
for each time slot calculated from equation (22).
z3 ¼  SMax
b;t  Sb;t (12)
b¼1 t¼1
PtRem ¼ PtMax  PtRes (22)
The cost-based objective, introduced above, is composed of the
cost of charging batteries in addition to the energy loss as presented
PtCh  PtRem (23)
in equation (13). Equations which are stated in (14), relate power
and energy by the time span of each time slot. Equation (15), shows A forward-backward sweeping procedure is employed to solve
how Power Consumption of BSSs is calculated and equation (16) the power flow problem [20]. This procedure is suitable to handle
shows how power loss for each line of the network attributes to radial distribution networks and its efficiency and functionality is
the corresponding line current and resistance. demonstrated before [20]. To calculate the current of each buse in
this problem, equation (24) is employed.
EtCh;Loss ¼ EtCh þ EtLoss (13)
Load Load  jQ Load
Load
Si;t Pi;t i;t
( Ii;t ¼ ¼ (24)
V i;t V i;t
EtCh ¼ PtCh :d
(14)
EtLoss ¼ PtLoss :d

X
K
Ch;BSS 2.3. Solution method
PtCh ¼ Pk;t (15)
k¼1
The abovementioned proposed model is solved using non-
dominated sorting genetic algorithm type II (NSGA-II) [21]. The
nb 
X  2 reason is the non-convex, non-linear, mixed integer, and large-scale
PtLoss ¼ Il;t j $Rl (16)
l¼1
nature of the problem [8,11].
The Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA) is a kind
Limitation on the magnitude of the bus voltages is stated in of Multi-Objective Optimization (MOO) algorithm based on
equation (17). Also, equation (18) establishes the same situation for evolutionary computations. NSGA is an extension of the Genetic
the branch flow limits. The third constraint, which is stated in Algorithm (GA) for MOO problems, including two versions, namely
equation (19), refers to the NBS constraint through all the BSSs. The conventional NSGA and the augmented form or NSGA-II. The
last constraint of the problem, abbreviated before by CASB objective of the NSGA algorithm is to increase the adaptive fit of a
constraint, is modeled in equation (20). population of candidate solutions to a Pareto Front limited by a set
of objective functions. The algorithm uses an evolutionary process
ci2f1; 2; …; Nb g with surrogates for evolutionary operators including selections,
Min Max
Vi;t  Vi;t  Vi;t ; (17) crossovers, and mutations.
ct2f1; 2; …; Tg Using the NSGA-II algorithm, the so-called Pareto solutions will
be obtained approximately. Among numerous points (solutions) in
cb2f1; 2; …; nb g the Pareto line, the most favorable one with respect to the decision
Sb;t  SMax ; (18) maker preferences should be selected. Multi-Attribute Decision
b;t
Making (MADM) methods can be used to this end. Here, an Analytic
ct2f1; 2; …; Tg
Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed to capture the ultimate so-
lution [22].
 S.S. Amiri et al. / Energy 165 (2018) 549e562 555

The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a well-defined method $ %

for structuring and analyzing complex decisions, based on mathe- nBS
k
1
PNBSCk ¼ (30)
matics and psychology. It was developed by Thomas L. Saaty in the nBS;Max
1970s and has been comprehensively examined and upgraded
since then. It offers an all-inclusive and reasonable structure to
build a decision problem, for demonstrating and enumerating its PCASBCg ¼ DurgA (31)
components, for relating those components to overall goals, and for The violations calculated by (28) and (29) are elaborated for all
assessing alternative solutions. network buses and lines, respectively, through all time slots. As
It should be implied that some of the constraints cannot enforce well, the violations calculated by (30) and (31) summed up for all
directly on the decision variables. Furthermore, it can lead to an BSSs and groups, respectively.
unpredictable time duration of running the program for the other
constraints if they enforce directly on the decision variables. So, a X
Nb X
T
constraint handling method is employed. TPVC ¼ PVCi;t (32)
In order to handle constraints, penalty factors are employed in i¼1 t¼1
the objectives. To do this, auxiliary variables representing penalties
are included in the objectives, as in (25)e(27). X
nb X
T
TPAPC ¼ PAPCb;t (33)
b¼1 t¼1
X
T
zM
1 ¼ EtCh;Loss :ft þ c (25)
t¼1 X
K
TPNBSC ¼ PNBSCk (34)
k¼1
X
Nb X
T  
zM Vi;t  1 þ c
2 ¼ (26)
X
G
i¼1 t¼1 TPCASBC ¼ PCASBCg (35)
g¼1

X T 
nb X  Finally, the all-inclusive variable standing for violation from all
zM
3 ¼ SMax
b;t  Sb;t þ c (27) constraints is obtained by (36).
b¼1 t¼1

The added auxiliary variable representing constraints violation c ¼ a$ðTPVCÞ þ b$ðTPAPCÞ þ g$ðTPNBSCÞ þ y$ðTPCASBCÞ (36)
is responsible for line flow, bus voltage, NBS, and CASB. Constraint
violation for each variable is calculated in (28)e(31) for bus voltage,
line flow, NBS, and CASB, respectively.
3. Simulation and results
h   i h  i
Max Max Min Min
PVCi;t ¼ max Vi;t ; Vi;t  Vi;t þ Vi;t  min Vi;t ; Vi;t In this section, the proposed model and solution method, rep-
resented in the previous section, are implemented on a test case
(28)
and then the results are shown and discussed. To do this, first, input
parameters, constants, and numerical assumptions are presented.
h   i h Then, the simulation results and interpretations are given.
PAPCb;t ¼ max Sb;t ; SMax
b;t  SMax
b;t þ  SMax
b;t
 i
Max
 min Sb;t ; Sb;t (29) 3.1. Inputs

Configuration of the selected test system for implementing the

12
11
10
Active power (MW)

9
8
7
6
5
4
3

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Time of day and night
Fig. 5. Estimated active power consumption of residential loads for the day and night of the charge scheduling program.
556
Fig. 6. One-line diagram of 33-bus IEEE network configuration along with location of the BSSs.
model is IEEE 33-bus radial network [23,24]. Some modifications
are applied on the original test system including increasing load
profile, branch flow limits, and nominal voltage of the buses and
also decreasing line resistance and reactance parameters (aug-
menting lines of the network). The considered load profile of the
network is depicted in Fig. 5 [11].
The line parameters are decreased by half of the relation be-
tween new considered peak load to the previous original one
(multiplied by (3.715  2)/11.1). For each time slot, apparent power
consumption of all the consumers, first, increased by the relation
between new peak load to the previous one, then, power con-
sumption of each BSS, is added to the bus where the BSS is con-
nected to. Voltage of the slack bus of the system, namely substation,
is set to 1.03 per-unit where voltage can vary 5% from the nominal
value (nominal voltage of the buses is 20 KV). Flow limit for each
branch (along with the considered label number of each branch) is
140
Price (Unit of money per MWh)
120
100
80
60
40
20
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0
Fig. 7. Fundamental electricity purchase price with respect to the time slot.
S.S. Amiri et al. / Energy 165 (2018) 549e562
given in Table A1 (in Appendix). The BSSs are located at buses 18,
22, 25, and 33, as added to the one-line diagram in Fig. 6 [25,26].
Indeed, the location of BSSs are established before. However, ac-
cording to the SoC of all batteries, the proposed program selects the
best location of battery swapping, along with charging priority, for
each EV group by solving the optimization problem. The maximum
allowable power consumption of the network dedicated to the
battery charging in the whole BSSs is set to 10.5 MW considering
the load profile. It is assumed that each time slot consists of
15 minutes. Price of the power for each time slot is illustrated in
Fig. 7 [25]. As introduced in the previous section, a dynamic pricing
scheme is used where each increase in consumed power greater
than 0.5 MW (power step) will increase charging price by 6.5 unit of
money (price step).
It is assumed that 100 groups of 10 vehicles should be scheduled
for charging. Characteristics of the batteries are shown in Table 1. It
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Time of day and night (h)
 S.S. Amiri et al. / Energy 165 (2018) 549e562 557

Table 1 Table 5
Batteries characteristics. Output information of charging schedule pertaining to EV groups.

EV type Tesla model S Group NO. (g) Durg Locg Prog Group NO. (g) Durg Locg Prog

Battery capacity 85 KWh 1 26 4 25 51 24 2 93

2 25 4 18 52 22 2 54
Charging efficiency 92%
3 30 3 32 53 26 2 71
Power of Charging Ordinary mode 10 KW
4 24 2 26 54 23 2 46
Fast mode 20 KW
5 25 4 88 55 26 3 42
6 22 4 31 56 28 3 63
7 29 4 68 57 27 2 7
Table 2 8 28 3 55 58 26 3 37
Considered matrix to compare objectives in AHP. 9 26 1 79 59 22 1 19
10 26 2 38 60 29 4 83
z1 z2 z3 Eigenvector 11 25 3 1 61 28 3 58
12 27 3 10 62 23 4 34
z1 1 6 9 3.78
13 28 4 51 63 26 4 59
z2 0.17 1 3 0.79
14 29 3 11 64 25 4 74
z3 0.11 0.33 1 0.33
15 27 1 70 65 23 1 49
16 24 4 39 66 27 2 15
17 29 2 2 67 25 3 52
is assumed that with starting charging process of each group in a 18 27 3 3 68 30 2 72
19 23 4 43 69 19 4 81
BSS, charging mode for all of the batteries pertaining to the group is
20 26 2 40 70 27 2 23
ordinary mode. As soon as a battery in a group is fully charged, it is 21 29 3 17 71 28 3 12
disconnected from charging and instead, the charging mode of 22 23 2 77 72 23 3 94
another battery in the group which had the least SoC among all 23 27 3 95 73 28 3 24
batteries of the group, changes to fast mode. This act is done in 24 25 2 89 74 23 2 27
25 29 2 96 75 27 4 76
order to decrease charging time duration of the group and also, 26 28 2 4 76 22 4 62
make the charging power consumption of the group to be almost 27 25 3 69 77 25 4 66
constant during the charging process. 28 25 1 44 78 25 2 35
For the sake of simplicity and without loss of generality, it is 29 27 2 90 79 25 1 73
30 28 3 14 80 26 4 60
supposed that all vehicles or equivalently batteries are of the same
31 24 1 86 81 27 3 20
type. In addition, to enhance life of the batteries and ensure secure 32 26 3 47 82 27 2 99
operation of vehicles, allowable range of the SoC of the batteries for 33 25 4 87 83 26 4 50
swapping is established on 15e70%. It is supposed that the battery 34 29 3 22 84 27 3 8
swapping cost for all EVs is equal irrespective of the SoC. This 35 28 4 67 85 26 2 28
36 28 3 78 86 23 3 48
assumption encourages EV users to swap the battery close to the 37 26 1 6 87 27 4 61
lower SoC bound which results in more battery life time and more 38 22 3 33 88 25 4 29
accurate SoC forecasting. The forecasted SoC of the battery groups is 39 28 3 5 89 24 2 64
based on using Beta probability distribution function (PDF). By 40 24 2 85 90 20 2 75
41 28 4 53 91 8 1 13
using this PDF, the most likely value of the SoC is considered to be
42 27 3 56 92 23 1 30
on 25.76%. Finally, Table 2 shows used values to construct the AHP 43 20 3 92 93 28 2 16
structure. It should be reminded that the first, second, and third 44 23 4 97 94 26 2 82
objectives are cost, bus voltages, and line flows, in turn. 45 24 4 57 95 25 4 21
46 26 2 65 96 24 4 9
47 27 3 98 97 25 4 45
3.2. Results 48 27 2 41 98 25 3 91
49 27 4 36 99 29 2 84
The proposed model with the abovementioned inputs and pa- 50 21 4 80 100 29 2 100
rameters is solved by using NSGA-II method. The number of

Table 3
Statistical performance of charge scheduling program.

Running time (minute) z1 (Unit of money) z2 (Per unit) z3 (MVA) C Ch (Unit of money) ELoss (MWh)

Best (lowest) value 17.12 6972.5 48.63 15490 6215.3 7.34

Worst (highest) value 18.34 7484.9 50.06 15363 6696.6 7.57
Median of values 17.6 7173.9 49.24 15423 6405.7 7.43
Mean of values 17.6 7176.9 49.27 15428 6407.8 7.43
Standard deviation of values 0.5 141.3 0.33 32 134 0.05

Table 4
Results pertaining to one of the charge scheduling program runs.

Running time z1 (Unit of z2 (Per z3 C Ch (Unit of ELoss ECh Residential energy consumption Percent of energy
(minute) money) unit) (MVA) money) (MWh) (MWh) (MWh) loss

17.1 7129.8 49.25 15451 6364.8 7.41 64.35 177.89 2.97

558 S.S. Amiri et al. / Energy 165 (2018) 549e562

chromosomes in each iteration is 50 wherein the stopping criteria
is iteration numbers, namely 300. The results for 20 runs are shown
in Table 3. The table shows the value of each objective function,
execution time, total charging cost, and total energy loss. These
values are presented for best, worst, median, mean, and standard
deviation of the whole simulation runs.
The total results for one of the solutions is presented in Table 4.
Besides abovementioned values, the table contains total consumed
energy for charging, total residential energy consumption, and
percentage of lost energy. Table 5 presents the optimal obtained
charging priority and location of the batteries for the solution given
in Table 4. Also, the table shows the required time slots to charge
the battery groups.
Fig. 8 demonstrates the total active power of the system for
cases with and without power consumption of the BSSs. As it can be
concluded from the figure, the proposed model was successful to
optimally charge the batteries in terms of leveling the load profile.
Equivalently, Fig. 9 depicts the charging power of the whole BSSs.
By comparing Figs. 7 and 8, it is obvious that by employing the
proposed method, the BSSs are beneficially charged at low cost
time periods. Fig. 9 is decomposed for each BSS in Figs. 10e13. By
considering the figures, all of the BSSs try to charge the batteries in
light load periods in addition to this fact that each BSS respects to
its allowable number of battery swaps. It is worth mentioning that
for this solution, the obtained numbers of battery swapping for
BSSs 1 to 4 are 100, 300, 300, and 300, respectively.
Apparent power consumption of the network at each time
period is depicted in Fig. 14. Compared to the active power con-
sumption plot (Fig. 8) the apparent power is increased by the
reactive power flow and network loss. Also, the apparent power at
any time period is below the network capacity.
Fig. 15 depicts maximum and minimum of the voltage magni-
tudes with respect to the bus number toward all time slots. As it is
demonstrated in the figure, all bus voltages are limited to the
maximum and minimum allowable bounds for each time period.
Maximum flow value of each line among all time slots in addition to
the corresponding limit is demonstrated in Fig. 16. The results show
that the technical limit of line flow is respected for any time period,
as for the voltage limit.
At last but not the least, Fig. 17 presents the charging prices at

13
12 Without power consumption of BSSs
With power consumption of BSSs
11
Active power (MW)

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Time of day and night
Fig. 8. Active power consumption curve of the network (without active power loss).

5
Active power (MW)

0
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Time of day and night (h)
Fig. 9. Active power consumption of BSSs.
 S.S. Amiri et al. / Energy 165 (2018) 549e562 559

2
1.8
1.6

Active power (MW)

1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Time of day and night (h)
Fig. 10. Active power consumption of BSS NO. 1.

2
1.8
1.6
Active power (MW)

1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
-0.121617 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Time of day and night (h)
Fig. 11. Active power consumption of BSS NO. 2.

2.4
2.2
2
1.8
Active power (MW)

1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Time of day and night (h)
Fig. 12. Active power consumption of BSS NO. 3.
560 S.S. Amiri et al. / Energy 165 (2018) 549e562

2
1.8
1.6

Active power (MW)

1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Time of day and night (h)
Fig. 13. Active power consumption of BSS NO. 4.

14

13
Apparent Power (MVA)

12

11

10

9
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Time of day and night (h)
Fig. 14. Apparent power consumption curve of the network.

1.05
Maximum value among all time slots
1.04
Minimum value among all time slots
1.03
Voltage magnitude (v)

1.02
1.01
1
0.99
0.98
0.97
0.96
0.95
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
Bus NO.
Fig. 15. Maximum and Minimum voltage magnitude of each bus among all time slots.
 S.S. Amiri et al. / Energy 165 (2018) 549e562 561

14 Maximum permitted value

Maximum value among all time slots
12
Apparent power (MVA)
10

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
Branch NO.
Fig. 16. Maximum value of apparent power flowing each branch among all time slots (together with the maximum permitted value curve).

140
130 In Dynamic mode
Price (Unit of money per MWh)

Fundamental mode
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Time of day and night (h)
Fig. 17. Ultimate status of dynamic pricing curve (comparing with the fundamental pricing curve).

each time period and for cases with and without power con- new peak periods in the load profile due to charging power, a dy-
sumption of the BSSsdultimate location of prices in dynamic namic pricing procedure was proposed. The results of implement-
pricing and fundamental prices, respectively. Regarding the ing the proposed model on a test case showed that besides optimal
designed dynamic pricing method, explained previously, the prices charging schedule in terms of cost and network constraints, the
didn't spike. load profile was leveled. To promote the adoption of EVs, the gov-
ernment should propose and exercise appropriate policies.
4. Conclusions Through the implementation of these policies, the government will
achieve its own benefits indirectly by massive utilization of the EVs.
In this paper, an electric vehicle battery charge scheduling in By using the proposed BSS algorithm not only cost goals are aimed,
battery swapping stations was proposed. The scheduling was but also technical performance of the grid is considered. In this
defined as optimal charging location and priority of electric vehi- context, legislation should be developed to construct required
cles ensuring network security and economics. The problem was number of the BSSs based on the area population and EVs share.
formulated as a multi-objective problem and was solved using Also, the legislation should allow paying some subsidies to
NSGA-II algorithm. Also, the optimal timing of charging swapped decrease charging cost in order to promote EV user to charge their
batteries was determined considering continuity in charging pro- vehicles in the BSSs. Also, advertisement on the benefits of charging
cess to enhance life time. Additionally, in order to modeling an in the BSSs for the EV users can increase their willingness
applicable electricity purchase pricing and also prevent forming considerably.
562 S.S. Amiri et al. / Energy 165 (2018) 549e562

Appendix

Table A1
Thermal capacity together with the numbering manner of network branches.

Branch NO. Primary Bus NO. Secondary Bus NO. Thermal Capacity (MWh) Branch NO. Primary Bus NO. Secondary Bus NO. Thermal Capacity (MWh)

1 1 2 14 17 17 18 7
2 2 3 14 18 2 19 7
3 3 4 10.5 19 19 20 7
4 4 5 10.5 20 20 21 7
5 5 6 10.5 21 21 22 7
6 6 7 7 22 3 23 7
7 7 8 7 23 23 24 7
8 8 9 7 24 24 25 7
9 9 10 7 25 6 26 7
10 10 11 7 26 26 27 7
11 11 12 7 27 27 28 7
12 12 13 7 28 28 29 7
13 13 14 7 29 29 30 7
14 14 15 7 30 30 31 7
15 15 16 7 31 31 32 7
16 16 17 7 32 32 33 7

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