Better use of charging infrastructure through smart incentive schemes

  Outline of the overall concept of BeNutz LaSA

In the BeNutz LaSA project, a system for forecasting the utilisation of public charging infrastructure is being developed with the aim of motivating users to charge in a system-friendly and uniform manner by means of price incentives. Project partners are the companies smartlab and Hubject as well as the RWTH institutes FCN and IAEW. In the project, prices at hotspots such as city centres are to be raised at times of high use and at the same time off-peak locations and times are to become cheaper. This should motivate users who do not urgently need to charge to postpone their charging. For example, a commuter in a rural area could charge overnight and in the city centre during the day. A city centre resident is also encouraged to charge at night so that the infrastructure remains available during the day. This keeps the infrastructure available for spontaneous, short-term charging while shopping or other short-term activities. Overall, this increases the availability of the charging infrastructure.

In this project, ISEA is responsible for forecasting the utilisation of charging infrastructure. For the prediction of charging infrastructure utilisation, we use Big Data methods and machine learning. For this purpose, past charging station utilisation and other data are evaluated. The patterns recognised in this data are then used to predict where hotspots could arise. For each charging station, the probability that it will be occupied during the forecast period is then calculated in hourly resolution. In the future, the same method can be applied to other markets such as fleet charging or other focus topics such as local renewable energy consumption or grid load estimates.

 

Duration

01st October 2020 – 30th September 2023

 

Funding

 

The BeNutz LaSA project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) under the funding code 01MV20001A from the special fund " Energie- und Klimafonds" on the basis of a resolution of the German Bundestag. The funding is provided within the framework of the directive on a joint funding initiative to promote research and development in the field of electromobility of 25 October 2018.

 

Partner

 

• smartlab Innovationsgesellschaft mbH
• Hubject GmbH
• Institute for Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior – RWTH Aachen
• Institut für Elektrische Anlagen und Netze, Digitalisierung und Energiewirtschaft – RWTH Aachen