A Machine Learning-Based Real-Time Remaining Useful Life Estimation and Fair Pricing Strategy for Electric Vehicle Battery Swapping Stations

The increasing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) has led to the widespread implementation of battery swapping stations. However, ensuring fairness in battery pricing remains a significant challenge since variations in battery health and performance among swapped batteries can result in user dissatisfaction and operational inefficiencies. This paper introduces a novel approach to enhance fairness in battery swapping by integrating a machine learning-based real-time prediction model with a pricing strategy based on remaining useful life (RUL) estimation to address this issue. The proposed solution comprises a real-time RUL estimation system and a dynamic pricing mechanism that ensures fair pricing based on battery health and performance. This integrated approach aims to improve user satisfaction and the operational efficiency of swapping stations. The paper evaluates various machine learning algorithms for real-time RUL estimation regarding accuracy, computation time, and memory usage. The results suggest that XGBoost provides the most suitable balance between accuracy and efficiency, making it an effective solution for real-world applications. Comparative analysis shows that the XGBoost model outperforms the second-best method (Random Forest) with a lower error (3.50 vs 3.79) while maintaining competitive computational efficiency (9.75 vs 8.52 seconds) and memory usage (2.12 vs 2.32 MB) when solving a typical numerical case study problem. The proposed approach has the potential to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and contribute to sustainability goals by promoting efficient battery utilization and fair pricing mechanisms.