The rapid electrification of heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) fleets requires a significant increase in high-power charging infrastructure along highways. This expansion is closely linked to available electricity grid capacity and stability, making it a critical challenge for the transition to more sustainable mobility and electricity systems. Coordinated fleet charging offers significant potential for increasing the system reliability. It can reduce the need for costly grid reinforcements and actively contribute to grid stability, thus supporting the grid to cope with challenges from intermittent electricity provision from wind and solar. Initial analyses indicate that HDV fleets that charge during periods of low demand, align with renewable generation patterns, and avoid peak demand increases can realize significant economic benefits. Our future research investigates how providing real-time ancillary services including congestion management and dynamic stability services reduces infrastructure stress and creates new market opportunities for fleet and system operators.

We are developing a collaborative research project to explore how dynamic toll pricing, in combination with dynamic electricity tariffs, can incentivize grid-friendly HDV operations. The project will: (1) investigate system-oriented scheduling strategies for HDV fleets, (2) develop algorithms that co-optimize logistics and charging operations simultaneously and under consideration of grid-stability, and (3) analyze business cases for dynamic tolls and flexibility services in real-world scenarios. We built upon our extensive expertise in integrated modeling of sector-coupled energy systems. For example, we developed the open-source tool venco.py, which derives charging flexibility potentials from mobility data and, in combination with energy system optimization (e.g. our open-source energy system model REMix), identifies grid expansion needs. Furthermore, our agent-based model AMIRIS allows us considering future electricity market prices.

With our poster, we want to discuss our concept for jointly assessing technological, economic, and operational opportunities for cost-efficient, future-ready HDV electrification.