Optimal Driving Range for Battery Electric Vehicles Based on Modeling Users' Driving and Charging Behavior

This paper proposes a simulation approach for the optimal driving range of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) by modeling the driving and charging behavior. The driving and charging patterns of BEV users are characterized by reconstructing the daily travel chain based on the practical data collected from Shanghai, China. Meanwhile, interdependent behavioral variables for daily trips and each trip are defined in the daily trip chain. To meet the goal of the fitness of driving range, a stochastic simulation framework is established by the Monte Carlo method. Finally, with consideration of user heterogeneity, the optimal driving range under different charging scenarios is analyzed. The findings include the following. (1) The daily trip chain can be reconstructed through the behavioral variables for daily trips and each trip, and there is a correlation between the variables examined by the copula function. (2) Users with different daily travel demand have a different optimal driving range. When choosing a BEV, users are recommended to consider that the daily vehicle kilometers traveled are less than 34% of the battery driving range. (3) Increasing the charging opportunity and charging power is more beneficial to drivers who are characterized by high daily travel demand. (4) On the premise of meeting travel demand, the beneficial effects of increased fast-charging power will gradually decline.