Agent-based modeling and simulation for the pricing strategy of the electric vehicle battery switching station

The pricing strategy is critical for the construction and operation of the battery switching stations as well as the service quality to the EV owners. In this paper, operation cost of the battery switching station is firstly analyzed, and then an agent-based model of the battery switching service is proposed, which enables the observation of the EV refueling request, the simulation of the battery switching station, and the assessment of different pricing strategies. Furthermore, considering the current high cost of the EV batteries and their quality decreasing due to recharging times, this paper proposed a batterycondition- based pricing strategy. And developed a 3D simulation platform to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model and the performance of the pricing strategy. Simulation denotes that the model can well reveal the driving mode of the EV owners and the battery conditions, which will be of significant meanings in making decisions about the configuration of the station and the pricing strategy. And due to the fluctuation in the battery quality in the simulation, the cost of the battery is dominant in the cost of the station compared with the cost of the electricity, and the proposed pricing is a preferred way in making up the battery cost of the station while providing a fair service for the EV owners. © 2014 Binary Information Press.