Optimal charging operation of battery swapping stations with QoS guarantee

Electric Vehicle (EV) drivers have an urgent demand for fast battery refueling methods for long distance trip and emergency drive. A well-planned battery swapping station (BSS) network can be a promising solution to offer timely refueling services. However, an inappropriate battery recharging process in the BSS may not only violate the stabilization of the power grid by their large power consumption, but also increase the charging cost from the BSS operators' point of view. In this paper, we aim to obtain the optimal charging policy to minimize the charging cost while ensuring the quality of service (QoS) of the BSS. A novel queueing network model is proposed to capture the operation nature for an individual BSS. Based on practical assumptions, we formulate the charging schedule problem as a stochastic control problem and achieve the optimal charging policy by dynamic programming. Monte Carlo simulation is used to evaluate the performance of different policies for both stationary and non-stationary EV arrival cases. Numerical results show the importance of determining the number of total batteries and charging outlets held in the BSS. Our work gives insight for the future infrastructure planning and operational management of BSS network.