EV2Gym: A Flexible V2G Simulator for EV Smart Charging Research and Benchmarking
This provides a standardized platform for researchers and practitioners working on EV smart charging, though it is incremental as it builds on existing simulator concepts with enhanced V2G support.
The paper tackles the lack of realistic simulators for developing reinforcement learning algorithms in vehicle-to-grid smart charging by introducing EV2Gym, a flexible simulator with validated models and pre-designed case studies that enables benchmarking of various algorithms.
As electric vehicle (EV) numbers rise, concerns about the capacity of current charging and power grid infrastructure grow, necessitating the development of smart charging solutions. While many smart charging simulators have been developed in recent years, only a few support the development of Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms in the form of a Gym environment, and those that do usually lack depth in modeling Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) scenarios. To address the aforementioned issues, this paper introduces the EV2Gym, a realistic simulator platform for the development and assessment of small and large-scale smart charging algorithms within a standardized platform. The proposed simulator is populated with comprehensive EV, charging station, power transformer, and EV behavior models validated using real data. EV2Gym has a highly customizable interface empowering users to choose from pre-designed case studies or craft their own customized scenarios to suit their specific requirements. Moreover, it incorporates a diverse array of RL, mathematical programming, and heuristic algorithms to speed up the development and benchmarking of new solutions. By offering a unified and standardized platform, EV2Gym aims to provide researchers and practitioners with a robust environment for advancing and assessing smart charging algorithms.