Modeling of Mobility On-Demand Fleet Operations Based on Dynamic Electricity Pricing

The 21st century is characterized not only by a growing need for mobility, but above all by an increasing variety of mobility forms. Individualization, connectivity, urbanization and post-fossil drive technologies will determine the mobility of tomorrow. Technical innovations and changing human needs are becoming the driving force behind novel forms of mobility and innovative business models. However, not only the mobility world is changing rapidly. Particularly renewable energy sources, like sun and wind are directly connected to planning uncertainty due to their dependence on weather. This leads to frequency fluctuations in the power grid. These fluctuations in turn are the reason for dynamic electricity prices to which especially large consumers can adapt in order to save money. This paper investigates to what extent an operating electric mobility on-demand fleet can adjust to changing electricity prices and whether this adaptation affects the service performance of the overall system. For this purpose, a model is built up, which considers traffic influences in the form of dynamic travel times as well as the passenger and battery management of the vehicles. The model suggests that a vehicle fleet with an adapted charging strategy to dynamic electricity prices can save money at all investigated fleet sizes. First results indicate that the service performance of the mobility on-demand fleet is not substantially affected. In addition, considerable cost savings can be realized by applying the dynamic charging strategy. The analysis of idle times of the vehicle fleet revealed further potential for optimization, which could potentially be used for the provision of ancillary services.