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Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

ScienceDirect
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Energy Procedia
Energy Procedia 00
143(2017)
(2017)000–000
15–20
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

World Engineers Summit – Applied Energy Symposium & Forum: Low Carbon Cities & Urban
Energy Joint Conference, WES-CUE 2017, 19–21 July 2017, Singapore

A Framework
The 15thfor ElectricSymposium
International Vehicleon(EV)
DistrictCharging
Heating and in Singapore
Cooling

Assessing Bheema
the feasibility
Thiagarajan ofLokesh,
using June the TayheatHui demand-outdoor
Min
temperature function for{bheemal,
a long-term district heat demand forecast
junetayhm}@suss.edu.sg
Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), Singapore

I. Andrića,b,c*, A. Pinaa, P. Ferrãoa, J. Fournierb., B. Lacarrièrec, O. Le Correc

Abstract
a
IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research - Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
b
As of 2016, Singapore Veolia
has only Recherche
about & Innovation,
100 charging 291inAvenue
points Dreyfousresidential
commercial, Daniel, 78520
andLimay,
publicFrance
places according to LTA data.
c
Département Systèmes Énergétiques et Environnement - IMT Atlantique, 4 rue Alfred
There is a total of 120 electric and hybrid vehicles currently on Singapore roads. LTA has announced Kastler, 44300 Nantes, France
its plan to install 2000
charging points in Singapore. With the electric car-sharing programme, another 1000 Electric Vehicles (EV) will be added to the
ecosystem. In this paper, we propose a framework that leverages on the real-time information sharing between EVs and charging
stations. EV charging stations can update the number of EV chargers (quick charger and normal charger) available onsite and
Abstract
provide the peak / off-peak pricing chargers, average waiting time and customer service index for the charging locations. In this
paper, we study the criteria for optimal selection of charging stations by EV users. The cost of charging, average waiting time
District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the
and the distance to the charging station are the major factors that are taken into consideration. The EV user can select the optimal
greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat
charging stations based on a weighted combination of the above factors.
sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease,
prolonging the investment return period.
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand – outdoor temperature function for heat demand
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the World Engineers Summit – Applied Energy Symposium &
forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665
Forum: Low Carbon Cities & Urban Energy Joint Conference.
buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district
renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were
Keywords: Electric Vehicle (EV); normal charger; quick charger; EV range; charging pattern; optimal selection
compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors.
The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications
(the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation
1.scenarios,
Introduction
the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered).
The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the
Electricin cars
decrease first appeared
the number in hours
of heating 1820 of[1],22-139h
however the limitations
during of power
the heating season didn’t bring
(depending on thethem to limelight
combination until the
of weather and
20th century.
renovation The awareness
scenarios considered).onOnglobal warming
the other and climate
hand, function change
intercept due for
increased to 7.8-12.7%
petroleum-based
per decade transportation
(depending onandthe
carbon
coupledemissions
scenarios).along with the
The values fear of peak
suggested could oil
be [2]
usedrevived the the
to modify interests andparameters
function developmentsfor thein scenarios
electric vehicles (EV).
considered, and
There
improvewere
the additional
accuracy of benefits from
heat demand EV such has reduced noise pollution, low maintenance cost to the consumers,
estimations.
effective use of vehicle space and easy to use vehicle driving system. Governments of several countries have shown
© 2017
great The Authors.
interest Published
in adopting EVs. byThe
Elsevier Ltd. Market Authority (EMA) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) of
Energy
Singapore launched the EV test-bed on 25thCommittee
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific of The
June 2011, 15th International
to decide on the mass Symposium
adoptiononofDistrict
EV inHeating and [3].
Singapore
Cooling.

Keywords: Heat demand; Forecast; Climate change

1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the World Engineers Summit – Applied Energy Symposium &
Forum: Low Carbon Cities & Urban Energy Joint Conference.
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the World Engineers Summit – Applied Energy Symposium & Forum: Low
Carbon Cities & Urban Energy Joint Conference.
10.1016/j.egypro.2017.12.641
16 Bheema Thiagarajan Lokesh et al. / Energy Procedia 143 (2017) 15–20
2 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

Following the positive results, LTA and Economic Development Board (EDB) of Singapore approved BlueSG Pte
Ltd, a subsidiary of Bolloré Group, to launch the EV car-sharing programme by mid-2017 [4].

In spite of the above developments, there are several factors that still obscure the prospects of EV. A few of these
factors are the battery life, charging time, availability of charging stations, cost for charging and safety. EVs might
be required to be charged in scenarios where they still have reasonable charge and these scenarios could put the EV
driver to a dilemma as the margin to cope up with any unforeseen reroute or travel is limited when compared to
vehicles driven by internal combustion engines (ICE). The range of an EV is subjected to the load being carried in
the EV and the usage of electric powered resources such as cabin climate control, lighting, etc. Hence, any departure
from the routine schedule of an EV user could potentially leave the EV user stranded with no power in the EV.
Furthermore, EV manufacturers strive to keep the curb weight of the EV to the minimum in order to increase the EV
range [5]. This could potentially reduce the safety features in an EV when compared with a standard vehicle drive by
ICE.

In this paper, we will focus on the charging of the EV and the charging costs with respect to Singapore. Singapore
is unique, as the total area of Singapore is only 719.1 km2 and on average cars travel about 50 km per day [6]. This is
well within most EVs range and hence can potentially put the EV users to a dilemma on when to charge and where
to charge. The other dilemma EV users face is the cost for charging. The EV charging stations in most countries are
concentrated around specific neighborhoods and hence the cost of charging (uniform charging or dynamic charging)
could significantly affect the EV user behavior. Gao et al. [7] devised a game-theoretic energy management for
residential users with EVs. Some utilities offer different electricity rates depending on peak and non-peak periods.
This may not be suitable for Singapore where most people live in public flats and will not have a dedicated plug-in
for charging. Tushar et al. [8] discussed the price optimization by the grid while the plug-in EV groups choose their
equilibrium strategies. Bahrami et al. [9] encouraged EV users to manage their electricity consumption by shifting
their EV charging times to off-peak periods. Factors affecting EV users’ decision in the selection of an EV charger
include: charging fee, travelling cost and time required for charging. Xiong et al. proposed a dynamic pricing model
[10] to adapt to changes in population density and traffic patterns to mitigate congestion at charging stations and
reduce social cost. In our paper, we briefly provide an overview on the EV batteries and chargers available in the
market. Then we discuss, the framework to help users in charging their EVs and outline the requirements of the
framework to have a sustainable charging network.

1. EV Battery and Charger

EV use high-density lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries require least maintenance, less susceptible to
memory effect and require no scheduled cycling [11]. The subcompact EV employ batteries with power capacity 12
– 18 kWh, mid-sized family sedans have 22 – 50 kWh batteries and luxury models, for example those from Tesla
employ 60 – 85 kWh batteries [5]. Batteries degrade over several charging and discharging cycles. Factors such as
charging rate, environment temperature, battery management and charging behaviour also affect the battery life and
hence the EV range. According to studies by [12], 100% discharge of battery should be avoided to ensure maximum
battery cycle life. As indicated in [13], a battery in high state of charge can lead to battery wear and calendar fade
and it was found that even aggressive use of cooling system could not offer a remedy for calendar fade in this
situation. Table 1 compares the battery power capacity, range, cost per km (obtained using the current Singapore
residential electricity tariff of 21.39 cents per kWh) and charging time for typical EVs currently available in the
market.

Another important aspect in EV is the charging of battery. The charging rate of the battery depends on the type of
the charger used and the initial charge in the battery. Generally, chargers are classified into four levels, from Level 1
to Level 4. Level 1 corresponds to the built-in charger in most EVs that use the household power sockets (in US),
Level 2 chargers are Electrical Vehicle Servicing Equipment (EVSE) which can charge the EV to full in about 7 to 9
hours. Level 3 and Level 4 chargers are the superchargers that use advanced DC charging techniques to directly
charge the EV battery. These superchargers can charge 80% of battery in 15 to 20 minutes, In Singapore, there are
 Bheema Thiagarajan Lokesh et al. / Energy Procedia 143 (2017) 15–20 17
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 3

only 2 types of chargers, viz., normal charger and quick charger as listed in Table 2 [14].

Table 1: Comparison of EVs in market.

Car Battery Range Wh/km S$/km Normal (Level 2) Super Charger

Power Charging Time (80% charge)
Capacity
Mitsubishi
16 kWh 85 km 190 0.0406 6h 30 min
i-MiEV
BMW i3 33 kWh 183 km 180 0.0385 3h 40 min
EVA 50 kWh 200 km 250 0.0535 6h 15 min
Tesla S60 60 kWh 275 km 220 0.0588 7h 30 min

Figure 1 shows a snapshot of 30 charging stations currently available in Singapore, majority of which only have
normal chargers [15]. Quick / super charging causes immense stress on batteries and hence it is recommended to be
sparingly used [5]. Thus, a routine charging pattern together with an effective battery management system (BMS) is
crucial for the EV battery range and life.

Figure 1: Singapore's 30 charging stations

Table 2: Singapore EV charger types.

Charger Type Electric Recharging

Power Time
Normal Charger (Level 2
3 kW 7–8h
Charger) @ 3.3 kW
Quick Charger (Level 3 or
30 – 50 kW 30 – 45 min
Level 4 Super Charger)

2. Charging Framework

Greenlots provides a charging management system to operate and manage the networked charging stations [16].
However, explicit details and benefits are currently not available in Greenlots system. In our work, we propose to
have a similar framework by including the EVs into the charging network. Most EVs or EV users have smart phones
18 Bheema Thiagarajan Lokesh et al. / Energy Procedia 143 (2017) 15–20
4 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

that can be enabled to communicate with charging network. This could also be made possible by using a built-in
communication module for the EVs to communicate with the charging network. We propose to have the list of
parameters in Table 3 to be shared through the charging network maintaining the user privacy. Our proposal studies
two types of pricing, viz., a peak / off-peak pricing for normal charging and a flat fixed price for quick charging.
The availability of parameters in Table 3 to EV users and charging station can help EV users to optimally select the
charging stations based on the criteria that best suits their needs and the charging stations to have a dynamic pricing
model or promotional pricing based on the availability of EVs near the charging locations and thereby maximize the
utilization of the charging stations in the network. EV manufacturers could also potentially tap on to this information
from the network, to study the battery life and performance of their EVs. Charging stations can study the charging
patterns of EV users and use this information for tweaking the pricing / business model.

Table 3: Parameters from charging stations and EVs

Charging Station Electric Vehicle (EV)

Station ID EV ID
Address EV location coordinates
Location coordinates Battery power capacity
Number of Normal chargers Battery age
Number of Quick chargers Current battery power
Normal charger peak price Charging modes available
Normal charger off-peak price Distance travelled since the last charge
Quick charger price Last charge details – date, time, station
ID, charge type, power charged in
kWh
Number of available Normal chargers
Number of available Quick chargers
Average waiting time
Customer service index

3. Charging Station Selection Criteria

The charging station criteria are dependent on the pricing model. In this paper, we consider the uniform and
dynamic pricing models. In uniform pricing, the charging stations charge a fixed price at all times. In this scenario,
the EV user will select the charging station based on shortest time to get to use the nearest available charger. The
time calculated is based on travel time and queuing time. If the charger is available, then the queuing time is zero.
This can be expressed as

𝑇𝑇 𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸, 𝑠𝑠 ≤ 𝑇𝑇 𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸, 𝑠𝑠 ! ∀ 𝑠𝑠 ! ∈ 𝑍𝑍, 𝑠𝑠 ∈ 𝑍𝑍, 𝑎𝑎! > 0,

(1)
where 𝑇𝑇(𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸, 𝑠𝑠) is the time taken by the EV to travel to the charging station 𝑠𝑠, 𝑍𝑍 is the set of all charging stations
and 𝑎𝑎! is the number of available chargers in station 𝑠𝑠. In the absence of no available chargers, equation (1) is
transformed as
𝑇𝑇 𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸, 𝑠𝑠 + 𝑡𝑡!! ≤ 𝑇𝑇 𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸, 𝑠𝑠 ! + 𝑡𝑡! ! ∀ 𝑠𝑠 ! ∈ 𝑍𝑍, 𝑠𝑠 ∈ 𝑍𝑍, 𝑎𝑎! = 0,
!
(2)
where 𝑡𝑡!! is the waiting time at charging station 𝑠𝑠. We use Google Maps API to estimate the time taken to reach the
charging stations and rank the top five charging stations that can be reached in the shortest time.

In dynamic pricing model, we consider a weighted cost function that is available to the network of EVs and charging
stations. The weighted cost function for charging station 𝑠𝑠 is given by
 Bheema Thiagarajan Lokesh et al. / Energy Procedia 143 (2017) 15–20 19
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 5

𝐽𝐽! = 𝛼𝛼! × 𝑝𝑝! + 𝛼𝛼! × 𝐶𝐶×𝑑𝑑! ,

(3)
where the positive scalars 𝛼𝛼! and 𝛼𝛼! are the weights for price and distance costs, respectively. The charging station
𝑠𝑠 charges a price of 𝑝𝑝! and is at a distance 𝑑𝑑! from the EV. The scalar constant 𝐶𝐶 is the cost incurred by the user for
travelling from and to the charging station using taxi. From EV user perspective, the charging station that minimizes
the cost function in equation (3) is the best selection, i.e., 𝑠𝑠 = argmin!! 𝐽𝐽!! , ∀ 𝑠𝑠 ! ∈ 𝑍𝑍. From the charging stations
perspective, each charging station can compute the distance of the nearest EVs and hence the traveling cost for the
EVs. Thus, the charging stations can dynamically adjust the charging price 𝑝𝑝! to maximize the utilisation of the
chargers and thereby its revenue.

4. Simulation

We used JAVA programming to simulate the EVs and the 30 charging stations with the parameters listed in
Table 3. We used Google Maps to estimate the distance between the EV and the charging stations and also to
estimate the time taken to reach the charging station under realistic traffic conditions. For dynamic pricing model,
we randomly assigned 𝑝𝑝! in the range S$5.99 to S$14.99. For the scalar 𝐶𝐶 we used the standard Singapore taxi rate
of S$3.40 flag down fee and S$0.44 for every 400 m travelled. Figure 1 shows the EV charging network map for
Singapore.

The Google Map Distance Matrix API was provided with the location of the EV and the charging stations. This API
calculated the commute duration and the distance from the EV to each of the charging points. We assumed that all
charging stations had chargers available. Google Maps APIs support various travel modes such as driving, walking,
cycling and transit when calculating distance between 2 points and by default, the distances were calculated for
driving mode. In addition, traffic_model parameter in Google Maps API was set to best_guess option for calculating
the travel time taking realistic traffic conditions into consideration. In Google Maps API, DirectionService is used
by the DirectionRenderer to display the route between two locations. In our study, we have displayed the shortest
path from the EV location to the optimal charging location. For a given EV location (i.e. Choa Chu Kang Ave 3),
our program ranked the charging stations based on the shortest time taken to reach the charging station and listed the
nearest 5 charging stations as shown in Table 4. Figure 2, shows the 5 nearest charging station locations based on
the shortest duration criterion and illustrate the route to the optimal charging station. If two EV charging points have
the same distance and duration values, they will be randomly given consecutive ranking in the duration ranking
table. For the above scenario, CleanTech One is selected as the optimal charging station as it takes only 9 minutes
for the EV at Choa Chu Kang to reach this charging station.

For the dynamic charge model, we still obtain the CleanTech One as the optimal choice. We also noticed that the
best 5 optimal charging stations were same as that obtained in the uniform pricing model. As the cost of charging
the EV is relatively cheap, the distance and the cost of travelling to the charging station are the deciding factors for
the optimal selection of charging station.

Table 4: Charging stations ranked using uniform pricing model.

Charging Stations Distance between EV Duration from EV (at Choa Rank (1-5,
and charging station Chu Kang) to charging station 1 is shortest duration)
CleanTech One 7.6 km 9.0 min 1
CleanTech Two 7.6 km 9.0 min 2
Devan Nair 7.9 km 14 min 3
Institute
Oasis Sakra 13.5 km 20 min 4
Galaxis Building 19.6 km 20 min 5
620 Author
Bheema name / Energy
Thiagarajan Procedia
Lokesh et al. 00 (2017)Procedia
/ Energy 000–000143 (2017) 15–20

Figure 2: Uniform pricing model: optimal charging station and route

6. Conclusion

In this paper, we briefly outlined the developments in EV and discussed the different types of chargers available
for EV. We proposed a list of parameters for the EV and the charging stations to be shared through the
communication network. In this framework, we studied the impact of the uniform and dynamic pricing models on
the optimal selection of charging stations by the EV users. As the cost of charging the EV is relatively cheap, the
optimal selection of the charging station was found to be dependent heavily on the distance between the EV and the
charging station and the cost of travelling to the charging station.

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