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Integrated Electric Bus and Charger Scheduling With Time-Continuous Optimization and Efficient Combinational Algorithms
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Integrated Electric Bus and Charger Scheduling With Time-Continuous Optimization and Efficient Combinational Algorithms

Jie Xiong, Jingjing Liang, Tongfei Li, Zhiwei Chen and Wei Guan
IEEE transactions on intelligent transportation systems, pp 1-22
18 Dec 2025

Abstract

Batteries charger scheduling Costs efficient combinational algorithms Electric bus scheduling Electricity Energy consumption Optimization Pricing Processor scheduling Scheduling State of charge Stochastic processes time-continuous optimization time-of-use electricity price
Battery electric buses (BEBs) are increasingly adopted in urban transit systems due to their significant environmental benefits. However, their limited driving range and prolonged charging times introduce significant operational challenges. To address these issues, this study investigates an integrated bus and charger scheduling problem through a time-continuous optimization framework. The problem incorporates key operational considerations, including time-of-use electricity pricing, partial charging strategy, nonlinear battery charging profile, stochastic trip durations and energy consumption, and a limited number of chargers. A mixed-integer model is formulated on a specially constructed two-layer trip-charging integrated scheduling network to minimize the total system cost. To effectively solve the problem, a two-stage solution approach is developed for the charger scheduling subproblem, which employs a minimum-cost-maximum-flow-based algorithm to determine the charging durations under TOU pricing, followed by a deficit-function-based heuristic to optimize charging start times. Building on this, two solution frameworks - branch-and-bound (BB) and adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) - are developed to solve the integrated scheduling problem. Computational experiments demonstrate that the BB approach consistently outperforms the commercial solver Gurobi, yielding superior solutions within similar or shorter computational times. Meanwhile, the ALNS delivers high-quality solutions with significantly lower computational effort, making it well-suited for large-scale real-world applications.

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#7 Affordable and Clean Energy
#13 Climate Action
#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Engineering, Civil
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Transportation Science & Technology
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