Route Search and Evaluation Method Including Charging Plan for Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles (EVs) have numerous inherent challenges, including running out of power frequently and taking a long time to charge. To make matters worse, current automotive navigation systems cannot provide proper route searches that include charging plans. One way to tackle these challenging problems is to propose several route plans and select one which meets the driver’s needs. In this paper, the following three evaluation criteria are proposed: shortening travel time by predicting charging queues, maintaining high residual capacity of the battery, and utilizing charging time. The proposed method is applied to Okinawa, Japan as a case study. The simulation results using this evaluation method in Okinawa demonstrate its potential utility and open the way for future work on relieving the stress of EV drivers.