Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), including Jiajie Qiu, Dakota Thompson, Kamal Youcef-Toumi, and Amro M. Farid, have published a study in the journal Nature Energy that explores the benefits of coordinating transportation and electric power systems to facilitate the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and support the global transition to net-zero emissions.
The study addresses a critical challenge in the energy sector: the integration of EVs into existing infrastructure systems. The researchers developed an optimal multi-modal transportation and electric power flow (OMTEPF) model to evaluate the advantages of coordinated, dynamic system operation. This model builds on recent advances in hetero-functional graph theory and enables joint optimization of five key operational decisions in intelligent transportation-electricity nexus (TEN) management: vehicle dispatch, route choice, charging station queuing, coordinated charging, and vehicle-to-grid stabilization.
Unlike previous studies that focused on static, macroscopic traffic assignment, the OMTEPF model is a mesoscopic, dynamic model that explicitly represents individual EVs and their state-of-charge trajectories. It also captures the full scope of the TEN as a system-of-systems, incorporating five distinct charging modalities: private residential, private commercial, wired public commercial, inductive public, and discharging. On the power system side, an IV-ACOPF formulation ensures globally optimal solutions to the electrical subproblems.
The comparative analysis conducted by the researchers demonstrates the substantial value of coordinated TEN operation relative to the status quo of siloed, uncoordinated infrastructure management. The study provides both a novel methodological contribution and actionable insights for the co-design and operation of next-generation sustainable mobility-energy systems.
For the energy sector, the practical applications of this research include improved planning and operation of charging infrastructure, enhanced grid stability through vehicle-to-grid services, and optimized use of renewable energy resources. By coordinating transportation and electric power systems, energy providers can better integrate EVs into the grid, reduce peak demand, and support the broader adoption of clean energy technologies.
Source: Qiu, J., Thompson, D., Youcef-Toumi, K., & Farid, A. M. (2023). Optimal Multi-Modal Transportation and Electric Power Flow: The Value of Coordinated Dynamic Operation. Nature Energy.
This article is based on research available at arXiv.