TITLE:  Adaptive Routing and Recharging Policies for Electric Vehicles

SPEAKER: Irina Dolinskaya

ABSTRACT:

Planning a trip with an electric vehicle requires consideration of both battery dynamics and the availability of charging infrastructure. Recharging costs for an electric vehicle, which increase as the battery's charge level increases, are fundamentally different than refueling costs for conventional vehicles, which do not depend on the amount of fuel already in the tank. Furthermore, the viability of any given route is sensitive to the availability of charging stations along the way. In this work, we study the problem of finding an optimal routing and recharging policy for an electric vehicle in a grid network. We develop and analyze a variety of models depending on the amount and timing of information available to the EV driver while traveling. A numerical study demonstrates the performance and solution quality of our algorithms using simulated urban charging infrastructure networks.

BIO:

Irina Dolinskaya is an assistant professor of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences and William A. Patterson Junior Chair in Transportation at Northwestern University. She obtained M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan, and B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Florida.

Her research interests include operations research with emphasis on large scale and computationally demanding dynamic programming problems, optimal path finding in evolving systems using real-time information, and effective planning under limited information. Applications include problems in humanitarian logistics, optimum vessel performance in evolving nonlinear wavefields, electric vehicle routing, and autonomous navigation for amphibious vehicles.

Dr. Dolinskaya is the winner of the INFORMS Transportation Science & Logistics Society Dissertation Prize. She is also the 2008 recipient of the Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations Research in Military Applications. Dr. Dolinskaya is actively involved in various leadership and mentorship roles. Her academic achievements and contribution to the university community has been recognized by awarding her the University of Michigan College of Engineering Distinguished Leadership Award in 2008 and Distinguished Achievement Award in 2009.