Sustainable Electric Vehicle Management using Coordinated Machine Learning


Speaker


Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate how intelligent algorithms can support electricity customers in their complex decisions within the electricity grid. In particular, we focus on how electric vehicle (EV) owners can be supported in their charging and discharging decisions, benefiting from the information available. We examine the problem from different standpoints and show the benefits for each involved stakeholder, dependent on the market conditions. In the first essay, we take the perspective of an individual EV owner and design an intelligent algorithm, which learning from her preferences and driving and consumption information, proposes optimized charging and discharging recommendations.  In the second essay, we extend the first one by incorporating the EV within a smart home with a photovoltaic panel. The main goal of this study is to examine how accurate solar generation forecasting can be useful for charging the EV and make the best out of renewable sources. We propose a supervised learning algorithm which estimates the solar generation output from the weather conditions. In the third essay, we examine the problem from the grid operator’s point of view, taking a top-down approach. We propose an auction mechanism which has as its main goal to service as many EV owners as possible, given a certain grid capacity. In the fourth essay, we propose a hybrid mechanism which combines benefits from top-down and bottom-up approaches. This mechanism is based on dynamic price functions that are able to incentivize EV customers to delay their charging duration when there is no urgency. Overall, this dissertation contributes to the academic literature with new algorithms that can leverage the power of data available and personalize EV charging recommendations. It also contributes to practice by providing useful insights to the involved stakeholders such as grid operators, energy utility companies, individual customers and automotive companies with respect to creating the right incentives for EV adoption. Finally, it adds to the very important discussion about sustainability, since it proposes ways to reduce carbon footprint and benefit the most from the available renewable sources.