Vehicular energy network (VEN) is a vehicular network which can transport energy over a large geographical area by means of electric vehicles (EVs). In the near future, an abundance of EVs, plentiful generation of the renewables, and mature wireless energy transfer and vehicular communication technologies will expedite the realization of VEN. To transmit energy from a source to a destination, we need to establish energy paths, which are composed of segments of vehicular routes, while satisfying various design objectives. In this paper, we develop a method to construct all energy paths for a particular energy source-destination pair, followed by some analytical results of the method. We describe how to utilize the energy paths to develop optimization models for different design goals and propose two solutions. We also develop a heuristic for the power loss minimization problem. We compare the performance of the three solution methods with artificial and real-world traffic networks and provide a comprehensive comparison in terms of solution quality, computation time, solvable problem size, and applicability. This paper lays the foundations of VEN routing.
EVs take a very important role in energy management in the smart grid. When compared to the capacity of the power grid, the capacity of an EV is very small. However, an aggregation of many EVs can become a huge load or power source. An energy market can be set up to trade energy between aggregations of EVs with the main grid in a vehicle-to-grid system @cite_1 . EVs can also be used to provide regulation services to the power system in a distributed fashion @cite_11 . In practice, charging stations are currently the main source of energy supply to EVs and their locations can affect the mobility pattern of vehicles @cite_12 . With VEN, EVs are used to transport energy across an area, complementing the power network. EVs can also obtain energy to support mobility from VEN. We can see that VEN brings a new dimension of functionality in the smart grid.
@cite_1 @cite_12 @cite_11
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In this paper, we propose a novel multi-layer market for analyzing the energy exchange process between electric vehicles and the smart grid. The proposed market consists essentially of two layers: a macro layer and a micro layer. At the macro layer, we propose a double auction mechanism using which the aggregators, acting as sellers, and the smart grid elements, acting as buyers, interact so as to trade energy. We show that this double auction mechanism is strategy-proof and converges asymptotically. At the micro layer, the aggregators, which are the sellers in the macro layer, are given monetary incentives so as to sell the energy of associated plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and to maximize their revenues. We analyze the interaction between the macro and micro layers and study some representative cases. Depending on the elasticity of the supply and demand, the utility functions are analyzed under different scenarios. Simulation results show that the proposed approach can significantly increase the utility of PHEVs, compared to a classical greedy approach. Due to green initiatives adopted in many countries, renewable energy will be massively incorporated into the future smart grid. However, the intermittency of the renewables may result in power imbalance, thus adversely affecting the stability of a power system. Voltage regulation may be used to maintain the power balance at all times. As electric vehicles (EVs) become popular, they may be connected to the grid to form a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) system. An aggregation of EVs can be coordinated to provide voltage regulation services. However, V2G is a dynamic system where EVs are connected to the grid according to the owners' habits. In this paper, we model an aggregation of EVs with a queueing network, whose structure allows us to estimate the capacities for regulation up and regulation down, separately. The estimated capacities from the V2G system can be used for establishing a regulation contract between an aggregator and the grid operator, and facilitate a new business model for V2G.