Mobile Charging Station: A Complementary Charging Technology for Electric Vehicles

The advancement of new fixed charging stations (FCS) has facilitated electric vehicle (EV) charging and increased EV adoption. However, FCSs construction is constrained by budget, power grid facilities, site size, etc. Thus, many places are not suitable for building FCSs. Moreover, EV users still deal with high charging time and low charger availability challenges, especially in urban areas with huge populations and various types of charging demands. A solution to address these challenges is utilizing different EV charging technologies. This paper proposes mobile charging stations (MCS) as complementary charging technology to FCSs. A mixed-integer linear model is developed to solve the EV charging management (EVCM) problem. In addition to receiving the charging services at FCSs, the proposed optimization model lets MCSs serve EV users at their convenient times and locations. The results confirm that MCSs are more economical than FCSs for many users, considering the EV users' time value. Moreover, MCSs can reduce the users' cost and the stress on the power network during peak hours, considering their energy arbitrage capability.