Dispatchable Battery Swapping System with Centralized Charging and Renewable Energy Generation

The effort to electrify society has in recent years resulted in major changes in the transportation sector. Charging time remains a challenge in several applications such as transportation and heavy machinery. A proposed solution that shortens the energy replenishment time and adds flexibility in loading the grid is to battery-swapping: exchanging the depleted battery for a fully charged one. In some cases, it can be beneficial to perform the battery-swapping operations at a separate location from where charging infrastructure is available, for example, in heavy machinery systems or remote road swapping stations. This paper presents a genetic algorithm that can plan and evaluate the logistics and charging behavior of such a system. A case study is conducted and the effect of key system characteristics such as available battery stock and transportation distance is analyzed.