Game-based scheduling of mobile charging robots for electric vehicle charging: A relay-like scheme

Qiuyang Fang, Chunyan Zhang, Chen Wang, Guangming Xie and Jianlei Zhang

Applied Energy, 2026, vol. 402, issue PB, No S0306261925016861

Abstract: The growing demand for electric-vehicle (EV) charging poses substantial challenges for power grids. In response, mobile charging robots (MCRs) have emerged as a promising solution for flexible, on-demand energy delivery. This paper proposes a novel relay-like EV-charging scheme for public parking facilities, in which long-duration charging tasks are decomposed into sequential time slots and collaboratively managed by multiple MCRs. The coordination problem is cast as an overlapping coalition formation (OCF) game with a holistic-altruistic preference order, enabling MCRs to autonomously allocate energy and cooperatively fulfill charging tasks while balancing self-interest and social welfare. Based on this framework, we develop a simulated annealing–inspired, decentralized OCF (SA-OCF) algorithm that effectively explores the solution space under stringent energy and time-window constraints and converges to a stable overlapping coalition structure. Simulation results show that the proposed approach outperforms baseline methods in social welfare and energy delivered. Furthermore, the algorithm exhibits strong scalability across scenarios with heterogeneous EV-charging behaviors.

Keywords: EV charging; Mobile charging robot; Multi-robot system; Overlapping coalition formation; Game theory; Resource allocation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126956

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