FLEXHUB
Optimal and flexible operation of EV charging hubs
Partners: ETHZ (FEN), AMAG, Siemens Energy
Duration: 01/2025 - 12/2025
Funding: ETH Center for Sustainable Future Mobility (CSFM) - Future Mobility Research Program
Project Leader: ETHZ
Project Team: Dr. Alexander Fuchs, Nikolaos Savvopoulos, Dr. Andrea Bellé, Dr. Turhan Demiray
The aim of the project is to develop a suitable framework for the optimal operations of EV charging hubs considering the various sources of uncertainty. The priority will lie on the development of an approach which ensures the feasibility of deployment. To achieve this goal, three necessary conditions must be met:
- Computational tractability: The proposed approach should offer acceptable computational performance and scalability properties. Decisions on deploying the battery or re-routing vehicles must be taken in real-time to facilitate the deployment of EV charging hubs in real-world applications and ensure a smooth and reliable operation.
- Uncertainty-awareness and mitigation: As the operations of EV charging hubs are intrinsically characterized by stochastic and uncertain behaviors, the proposed algorithmic approach should display robust properties against the various sources of uncertainty to avoid unexpected congestions and/or costly operation.
- Explainability and interpretability: As the aim of the project is to provide a framework which could be deployed in realistic applications, explainability and interpretability of the proposed solutions are essential. In other words, the optimal operational plan proposed by the algorithm should be intuitively understandable and interpretable by human operators, to derive practical insights, identify emergent behaviors, and understand the underlying logic of the whole EV charging hub.
The Swiss energy perspective foresees 3.6 million battery electric vehicles (BEV) of cars by 2050 [1], requiring an unprecedented level of adoption of BEV compared to current penetration of <2% electric cars [2]. However, the widespread adoption of BEV still faces significant challenges, such as range and inadequate charging infrastructure. While the progressively increasing deployment of public charging infrastructure (PCI) and fast charging stations (FCS) – for instance, along the national highways – can facilitate the adoption of BEV, it is also important to address the needs of neighborhood and local EV charging hubs.
An EV charging hub is a centralized facility equipped with multiple EV charging stations, designed to accommodate and charge several EVs simultaneously. To enhance energy efficiency and meet customer energy needs, charging hubs are typically equipped with different types of chargers complemented by renewable energy sources, such as PV, and storage devices, such as Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).
[1] SFOE, Energieperspektiven 2050+, Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), 2020.
[2] SFOS, external page ASTRA – Neue Inverkehsetzungen von Strassenfahrzeugen (IVS); ASTRA – IVZ-Fahrzeuge
To tackle the development of a flexible and adaptive method for the operation of charging hubs under uncertainty, the project is structured into three work packages as follows:
- Review of charging hub characteristics: Gather, analyze and classify data of typical charging hubs to inform predictive models and optimization frameworks.
- Predictive optimization for robust and stochastic scheduling: Develop predictive models and algorithms for efficient charging hub operation.
- Implementation and Evaluation: Implement the developed models and frameworks in designated case-studies of real-world charging hubs and evaluate their performance.
