A novel inverse multiplexer mechanism for photovoltaic-powered battery-swapping charging stations

A battery-swapping station requires charging multiple batteries such that an electric vehicle user can replace the depleting battery with a charged one, put the empty battery on charge and continue his journey. This technology has opened immense opportunities for fleet owners who want to keep their vehicles running without worrying about charging time. Several studies have approached this topic by proposing different techniques to optimise the charging process in these stations. Most studies consider independent chargers for each battery present in the dockets of the swapping console for the conventional charging station. Also, in many cases, the charging operation uses grid power. This paper proposes a novel inverse multiplexer mechanism for a photovoltaic-powered battery-swapping charging station. An off-grid PV installation enables the use of this station in remote places. The inverse multiplexer mechanism is governed by an algorithm that uses different goals for each battery present in the swapping station based on their initial state of charge and time of day. In this way, the charging waiting time for the batteries and the cost of the system is reduced. In this case, the time to reach several checkpoints of the charge state of the batteries is considered a metric. The proposed charging strategy was simulated for a study case in India, and the results showed better performance than the conventional charging strategy.