Optimal Platoon Merging and Catch-up Approach for Connected Electric Vehicles

Vehicle platooning can provide a significant energy saving benefit for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) during on-highway operation and thus improve the BEV driving range. Platooning merging and catch-up from on-ramp and on highway are critical steps to accomplish energy-efficient platooning process. This paper proposes an optimal control framework for a host BEV to produce the optimal vehicle speed profile that minimizes the energy consumption during the catch-up phase in platooning. The proposed optimal control framework is applicable to various catch-up scenarios including on-ramp catch-up with and without vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, as well as on-highway catch-up process. The proposed platoon merging problem are solved numerically using Pontryagin’s Minimum Principle (PMP). Simulation results show that the air drag coefficient change during the platoon merging does not have significant effect on the optimal speed trajectory. The simulation results also demonstrate that, with V2V communication, the platoon catch-up distance can be significantly shortened. In addition, 4.21% energy saving benefit can be achieved due to the prediction of upcoming leading vehicle that provides an earlier access to vehicle platooning benefits.