A Secure Stackelberg Game Framework for Profit Maximization in Vehicle-to-Grid Systems Using 5G

In smart communities, Electric vehicles (EVs) have grown in popularity as a key component of the energy ecosystem where the focus has turned to the generation of clean, sustainable energy. The integration of EVs, charging stations (CS), and smart grids (SG), however, poses significant challenges in terms of energy trading (ET) optimization and profit maximization. Next, trust is another challenge in the ET ecosystem among the communicating entities (EVs, CS, and SG) to buy and sell energy. Recent studies have overlooked the fact of ET among CS and SG, and mostly have focused on ET by EVs. However, at peak loads, SG may experience bottlenecks in energy dissipation, and thus excess energy collected by CS from EVs might be traded to SG to manage loads during peak times. So, we propose a framework, StackGrid, that leverages the capabilities of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) systems over a blockchain network. We design a Stackelberg game between CS and SG for profit maximization of both parties and to obtain optimal payoff equilibria. The framework is powered over the 5G ultra-reliable low latency communications (uRLLC) service for real-time ET response and data exchange. To address blockchain scalability concerns, we incorporate Interplanetary File Systems (IPFS) as local off-chain ledgers, where only meta-information is stored on-chain to handle blockchain scaling issue. The framework is evaluated on metrics like 5G service latency, optimal payoff scenario, attack probability, and node throughput. The obtained results indicate StackGrid viability in real ET setups, with benefits for sustainable and efficient energy management.