Maximization of EV Tour Points: The Problem and a Solution

AbstractThis paper focuses on route optimization for maximization of the number of points visited by an electric vehicle EV in a tour beginning and ending at the same point while taking into consideration the battery characteristics and capacity limit. In considering EV range insufficiency as related to regenerative braking and the battery capacity limit, we define the maximum-node-touring problem as maximizing the number of tour destinations and formalize the problem on this basis. The problem as considered in this paper also includes the changes in route optimization induced by the relationship between the battery capacity limit and the residual charge. An example of this is the situation in which energy regeneration is insufficient because of reaching the fully charged state and more destinations can be visited by changing the tour route in such a way that achieves more efficient energy use. Another example is the situation in which changing the order of certain destinations in the tour induces a change in the cost for every subsequent interval between destinations. We propose a new method to efficiently solve the tour point maximization problem having the above-mentioned characteristics.