Research on a Consortium Blockchain Private Electric Vehicle

Charging Station Sharing Platform for New Energy Vehicles

Lifeng Huang

Quanzhou University of Information Engineering, Quanzhou, China

Keywords: New Energy, Charging Station, Consortium Blockchain, Selection Evaluation Model.

Abstract: In response to the challenges of increased demand for electric vehicle charging, issues related to insecure

charging data and wastage of charging station resources, this study proposes a research on a consortium

blockchain platform for sharing private electric vehicle charging stations for new energy vehicles. Firstly, the

background and significance of the platform research are introduced. Subsequently, the relevant technologies

involved in the platform are introduced. Furthermore, the design process of the platform is presented, along

with the introduction of a charging station selection evaluation model. Finally, the feasibility of the system

research is demonstrated by using a specific set of charging data as an example.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, in order to further promote the dual

carbon goals of "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality,"

the country has vigorously developed new energy

vehicles with low carbon emissions, minimal

environmental pollution, and the ability to alleviate the

petroleum energy crisis. It is estimated that by 2025,

the number of new energy vehicles in China will reach

21 million. However, with the large-scale development

of new energy vehicles, the problem of difficulties in

charging these vehicles has emerged in an endless

stream. According to the "Deep Report on New Energy

Vehicle Charging Pile Industry" released by CITIC

Securities, as of September 2022, China had a total of

1.49 million new energy vehicles and 4.488 million

charging stations, resulting in a ratio of 2.56 vehicles

per pile. There is still a significant gap in charging pile

availability. In order to meet the charging needs of new

energy vehicle users, the country has increased

investment in charging infrastructure and advocated

the orderly installation of private charging stations.

Currently, the locations of new energy vehicle

charging stations are scattered, and there are several

issues, such as unattended charging facilities,

difficulties for vehicle owners to find available

charging stations, empty charging stations, challenges

in sharing data and resources among enterprises, lack

of transparency in charging transactions, privacy data

breaches, and idle private charging stations. Therefore,

there is a need to explore a more secure, efficient, and

trusted shared private electric vehicle charging stations

platform to improve the utilization rate of charging

stations and meet the charging needs of vehicle owners .

Blockchain technology possesses characteristics

such as decentralization, transparency, immutability,

and multi-party consensus, making it a suitable

combination with charging station applications.

However, currently, most research combining

blockchain with charging stations is limited to public

charging station sharing models, with fewer

considerations given to sharing private charging

stations and optimal strategies for finding charging

stations for new energy vehicles.

Based on this, this study proposes a research on a

blockchain shared platform for private electric

vehicle charging stations. Firstly, the relevant

technologies of the platform research are analyzed,

and the security and economic aspects of the platform

are briefly discussed. Secondly, a platform model is

constructed to complete the design of the platform

workflow. Then, strategies are formulated based on

the four influencing factors of charging duration,

charging distance, charging cost, and charging pile

reputation involved in the vehicle owner's selection of

charging piles, in order to find the optimal charging

pile. Finally, a case study is conducted. Experimental

results demonstrate that the platform utilizes

blockchain technology to enhance the security of

vehicle owner charging transactions, match the

optimal charging piles, reduce vehicle owner

charging costs, and improve charging pile utilization.

Huang, L.

Research on a Consortium Blockchain Private Electric Vehicle Charging Station Sharing Platform for New Energy Vehicles.

DOI: 10.5220/0012280000003807

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Seminar on Artiﬁcial Intelligence, Networking and Information Technology (ANIT 2023), pages 237-242

ISBN: 978-989-758-677-4

237

BLOCKCHAIN AND RELATED

TECHNOLOGIES

2.1 Introduction to Blockchain

Blockchain is essentially a trusted, decentralized,

immutable database stored in a chain-like structure.

Each block on the blockchain records all transaction

data within a specific time period, utilizing

technologies such as asymmetric cryptographic

security, hash algorithms to ensure the integrity of

Merkle tree data structures, peer-to-peer distributed

network architecture, and trusted consensus

mechanisms between blocks. As a result, blockchain

can be widely applied in scenarios such as electricity

trading and energy exchange.

2.2 Key Technologies of Blockchain

Blockchain is primarily composed of four key

technologies: distributed storage, asymmetric

encryption algorithms, consensus mechanisms, and

smart contracts. The technical implementation of a

blockchain-based shared platform for charging

stations is as follows:

1) Distributed Storage: In the platform, all

charging users, charging stations, and grid companies

form a distributed network as peer nodes. After a

charging transaction is completed, users and charging

station owners upload the transaction records to the

shared platform via the Internet. The transaction

information is distributed, updated, and supervised

across various nodes in the network. A blockchain

charging sharing platform does not have a specific

central node. Users and transaction data of the

platform are stored and distributed among various

network nodes. In the event of a hacker attack or

network failure, the system is less likely to experience

a complete collapse, thereby improving fault

tolerance and security.

2) Asymmetric Encryption: To prevent

information leakage and tampering, the platform

employs asymmetric encryption for transaction

information. When a new energy vehicle user sends a

charging request to the shared platform, they first sign

and encrypt the data with their private key, then

encrypt the signed data with the platform's private key,

and finally send the encrypted data. Upon receiving

the data, the shared platform decrypts the specific

transaction information using the new energy vehicle

user's public key and its own private key.

3) Consensus Mechanism: The consensus

mechanism in a blockchain refers to the process

where different nodes reach consensus on charging

transactions through voting within a very short time.

If unrelated nodes in the blockchain can reach

consensus, the entire network can reach consensus. If

a charging user node or charging station user node in

the blockchain attempts to maliciously tamper with

charging transaction records, they would need to

possess 51% of the computing power to have a chance

of success. However, when a node has 51% of the

computing power, its benefits as an honest node

outweigh those as a malicious node, thus ensuring the

integrity of transaction information and enhancing the

platform's security.

4) Smart Contracts: Smart contracts are computer

protocols deployed on the blockchain that

disseminate, verify, or execute contracts in an

automated manner. They are computer code. In a

shared charging station platform, smart contracts can

define various scenarios for charging transactions

between electric vehicle users and charging stations.

For example, when an electric vehicle user completes

charging within the reserved time, the charging

station updates the real-time power information and

calculates the charging cost. When users in the shared

charging station platform meet the conditions set by

smart contracts, charging transactions are generated,

and the transaction information is uploaded to the

smart contract. The smart contract automatically

handles settlement, transfers, and records after

charging is completed and broadcasts the transaction

information to various master nodes. Master nodes

with high computing power package the transaction

data into blocks, forming the blockchain. The content

of the smart contract includes the usernames of the

parties involved in the transaction, transaction

addresses, start time, transaction price, transaction

power, and so on. Smart contracts allow trusted

transactions without the need for a third party, and

these transactions are traceable and irreversible.

IMPLEMENTATION OF

CHARGING STATION

SHARING SOLUTION

3.1 Physical Architecture of the

Sharing Platform

The shared transaction platform in this paper is built

using a consortium blockchain approach. The

blockchain management in the consortium

blockchain involves the participation of multiple

institutions and organizations. Node participation

ANIT 2023 - The International Seminar on Artiﬁcial Intelligence, Networking and Information Technology

238

requires strict qualification reviews, ensuring

stronger security, higher consensus, and better

privacy protection. The platform consists of nodes

such as new energy vehicle users, charging station

owners, government regulatory agencies, and power

companies. The main physical architecture of the

platform is shown in the following figure 1.

Figure 1: The main physical architecture of the platform.

The entities participating in the shared charging

transactions on the new energy vehicle consortium

blockchain are as follows:

1) Consortium Blockchain Platform. It is a

decentralized, distributed, dynamically encrypted

database that ensures data immutability, security, and

reliability. It records relevant information of platform

transactions, such as querying charging transactions,

settlement and payment for charging transactions, and

locating the optimal charging stations.

2) New Energy Vehicle Users. These are the

users who utilize the charging stations. They register

their personal information on the consortium

blockchain platform. When in need of charging, they

can publish their charging requirements or search for

the optimal nearby charging stations. They complete

the charging process and settle the payment for the

charging fees.

3) Charging Station Owners. Charging station

owners can be either private individuals or public

charging station operators. They provide information

on the consortium blockchain regarding the charging

station models, locations, charging power, etc. By

sharing the charging stations, they aim to increase the

utilization rate of the stations and consequently

enhance their revenue.

4) Government Regulatory Agencies. These

agencies oversee the charging transaction process,

validate the legitimacy of various nodes, and engage

in rational planning and management of charging

station deployment and quantity.

5) Power Companies. They ensure the safety

and reliability of the charging equipment, control the

charging load, and mitigate the impact of a significant

number of charging stations on the power distribution

network.

Figure 2: Blockchain New Energy Vehicle Charging

Station Sharing Transaction Process.

3.2 Blockchain New Energy Vehicle

Charging Station Sharing

Transaction Process

The following is the translation of the content:

First, users log in to the charging station sharing

platform via the mobile app. They send a charging

request to the platform, providing information such as

their current location, the remaining battery level of

their new energy vehicle, and the desired reservation

time for charging, charging price acceptable. After

receiving the request from the charging user, the

platform evaluates the model according to the

selection of the charging pile, calculates the optimal

charging pile and intelligently recommends it to the

user. In order to ensure that the charging pile is not

occupied by others, the charging user sends an

appointment request to the platform after

confirmation, and the platform communicates with

the charging pile owner to confirm that the

appointment is successful. The authentication

contract between the charging user and the charging

pile owner takes effect and starts to run.The platform

issues an authentication code for the new energy

Research on a Consortium Blockchain Private Electric Vehicle Charging Station Sharing Platform for New Energy Vehicles

239

vehicle to the charging station owner and sends the

authentication code for the charging station, service

token, and payment token to the user. The charging

station authorizes the charging based on the vehicle

authentication code provided by the owner and

verifies that the user is the one who made the

reservation based on the charging station

authentication code provided by the user. Likewise,

the user confirms that the charging station is the one

they reserved based on the vehicle authentication

code provided by the charging station. After

successful bidirectional hash authentication between

the two parties, the charging process begins. Once the

charging is complete, the charging station calculates

the charging cost based on the meter reading, and

after the owner verifies the charging information, the

user completes the payment. Upon completion of the

charging transaction, the transaction result is

broadcasted to the blockchain. The process is shown

in the following figure 2.

3.3 Charging Station Selection

Evaluation Model

In this study, the decision-making process for new

energy vehicle users in selecting a charging station

primarily considers four key factors: distance, time,

cost, and reputation.

1) Distance. This refers to the distance

between the electric vehicle and the charging station.

When an electric vehicle experiences range anxiety

due to battery consumption, a charging demand arises.

In such cases, the user provides the battery

consumption and remaining battery level of the

electric vehicle to the platform. The platform

calculates the maximum distance the electric vehicle

can travel and selects charging stations within this

range to ensure that the electric vehicle can reach a

suitable charging station. The formula for calculating

the maximum distance the electric vehicle can reach

is as follows:

poc

soc

max

(1)

where soci represents the remaining battery level

of electric vehicle i, and poci represents the battery

consumption of electric vehicle i.

2) Time. This refers to the charging time and

the time cost of driving to the charging station. Due

to different charging powers of charging stations, the

duration of fast charging and slow charging varies.

Therefore, the duration of electric vehicle i charging

at charging station j (𝑇





) is calculated as follows:











=Δ+

*p(

PMLT

）

(2)

where Ri represents the charging demand of the

electric vehicle, Pf represents the fast charging power,

Psrepresents the slow charging power, λ represents

the charging efficiency, and PMLj represents the

charging station model, with 1 representing fast

charging and 0 representing slow charging.

3) Cost. This refers to the charging fee,

charging service fee, and mileage fee of the electric

vehicle. The charging fee (𝐶





) is determined by the

charging duration, charging power of the charging

station, and charging price. The charging service fee

( 𝐶





) is determined by factors such as the

geographical location of the charging station and

resource competition. The mileage fee (𝐶





) of the

electric vehicle is determined by the distance between

the charging station and the vehicle, battery

consumption, and charging fees. The calculation

formula is as follows:

CCCC ++=

(3)

where 𝐶





represents the charging fee, 𝐶





represents the charging service fee, and 𝐶





represents

the mileage fee of the electric vehicle.

4) Reputation of the Charging Station. To

better recommend charging stations to users, after the

completion of charging, users can rate their charging

experience based on factors such as the stability of the

charging station equipment, the reasonableness of the

charging price setting, and charging incentives. The

platform calculates the reputation of the charging

station based on user ratings. Charging stations with

higher reputation are more likely to be recommended

to users, thereby gaining more revenue.

To ensure comparability among the four

influencing factors in the evaluation model, it is

necessary to normalize the variables. The

normalization function is as follows:

minmax

min

)(

−

(4)

The standardization of each indicator in the

evaluation model can be represented as:

)(

min,,max,,

min,,,

−

(5)

where represents the standardized

value,𝑢



,

represents the evaluation index of electric

ANIT 2023 - The International Seminar on Artiﬁcial Intelligence, Networking and Information Technology

240

vehicle i for charging station j regarding influencing

factor k (k can take values 1, 2, 3, 4, representing

distance, time, cost, and reputation),

𝑢



,,

and 𝑢



,,in

represent the maximum and

minimum values of the evaluation index of electric

vehicle i for charging station j regarding influencing

factor k.

CASE SIMULATION AND

CONCLUSION

4.1 Case Introduction and Data

Preprocessing

In this paper, a typical traffic system in a city is

selected as a case for simulation analysis. The

parameter Settings of charging piles and new energy

electric vehicles are shown in Table 1 and Table 2.

According to the analysis and research, due to the

charging load pressure, it is necessary to divide the

time period on the basis of the benchmark electricity

price, so the charging fees of most public charging

piles on the market are obtained, as shown in Table

3;The charging unit price of the private household

charging pile is shown in Table 4, and the private

charging pile with charging service fee is shown in

Table 5.

Table 1: Charging station parameter.

Parameters Numerical

Charging station numbe

cpn

Fast charge power Pf/kw 30kw

Slow charge power Ps/kw 7kw

Charging state(charging：1, Free：0)

1 | 0

Charging time 0.5h - 12h

Charging service fee 0.6 yuan - 1.2 yuan

Charging price 0.9 yuan - 1.8 yuan

Reputation score 0-10 fen

Table 2: Electric vehicle charging parameters.

Parameters Numerical

Electric vehicle numbe

Battery capacity 54 - 60Ah

Power consumption per 100kilometers 13-16 kwh

Travel speed 60 km/h-120 km/h

Maximum charge waiting time 1h - 8h

Table 3: Charging price of public charging station at

different time.

Periods of time Numerical

Peak

ime: 8:00 - 11:00 18:00 - 23:00 1.6-1.8 yuan

kwh

Shoulder time: 23:00 - 7:00 0.9-1.2 yuan

kwh

Mean time: 7:00 - 8:00 11:00 - 18:00 1.3-1.5 yuan

kwh

Table 4: Electricity prices of different gradients at home.

Gradient Unit price

First gradient(0kwh - 220kwh ) 0.49 yuan

Second gradient(220kwh - 400kwh ) 0.54 yuan

Third gradient(>400kwh ) 0.72 yuan

Table 5: Charging electricity prices of different gradients at

home.

Periods of time Gradient Cost

Peak time: 8:00-11:00

18:00-23:00

First gradient (0kwh - 220kwh )

1.32

uan

Second gradient(220kwh-400kwh)

1.46

uan

Third

radient

(

>400kwh

)

1.52

uan

Shoulder time: 23:00-

7:00

First gradient(0kwh-220kwh)

1.17 yuan

Second gradient

(

220kwh - 400kwh

)

1.34

uan

Third

radient

(

>400kwh

)

1.52

uan

Mean time: 7:00-8:00

11:00-18:00

First

radient

(

0kwh-220kwh

)

1.29

uan

Second

radient

(

220kwh-400kwh

)

1.34

uan

Third

radient

(

>400kwh

)

1.52

uan

4.2 Transaction Simulation

Verification

Assume that the owner of a charging pile has a 7 kW

AC charging pile, and its electric vehicle is used as a

daily work attendance tool to charge once every 5

days for 8 hours, and the personal utilization rate of

the charging pile is 6.6%. In order to further fully

improve the utilization rate of the charging pile, the

charging pile owner will release his own charging pile

on the alliance chain and realize sharing. In the

consortium blockchain, let's assume the charging

station is labeled as "cp100" and the charging service

fee is 0.8 yuan/hour. The electric vehicle owner has a

charging demand of 14 kWh, a maximum allowable

distance of 3 kilometers, and is willing to pay a

maximum electricity price of 0.8 yuan/kWh. The time

slot for occupying the charging station is from 9:00 to

11:00. The electric vehicle owner sends their demand

set {cp100, 9:00─11:00, 14, 3, 0.8} to the consortium

blockchain. Based on the charging station selection

evaluation model, the consortium blockchain matches

the demand with the available time slot of charging

station cp100. After confirmation, the AC charging

process starts at 9:00 and ends after charging 14 kWh.

At 11:00, the electric vehicle owner removes their

vehicle from the charging station. In this transaction,

the electric vehicle owner spends a total of 22.4 yuan,

eliminating the hassle of finding a public charging

station in the vicinity and saving time and costs. The

charging station owner calculates the electricity cost

expenditure using the first tier and earns a profit of

3.92 yuan, while using the second tier results in a profit

of 1.12 yuan. The charging costs under different

scenarios are shown in the following figure 3.

Research on a Consortium Blockchain Private Electric Vehicle Charging Station Sharing Platform for New Energy Vehicles

241

Figure 3: The charging costs under different scenarios.

Based on the above, the blockchain-based private

charging station sharing platform for new energy

vehicles makes full use of the advantages of trust

established through blockchain technology. It enables

charging transactions between electric vehicle

owners and private charging station owners, reducing

intermediaries in the transactions. Electric vehicle

owners can charge at a lower electricity price, while

charging station owners earn income by providing

their idle charging stations, thereby increasing the

utilization rate of the charging stations. This further

promotes the dual carbon goals of "carbon peak" and

"carbon neutrality".

CONCLUSION

With the continuous increase in the number of new

energy vehicles, there is a need to further improve

user charging demands. Traditional data storage

methods cannot guarantee the security and reliability

of massive data. In this study, we utilized the

decentralized, traceable, and tamper-proof

characteristics of blockchain, as well as technologies

such as data encryption, smart contracts, distributed

storage, and sharing mechanisms, to build a

consortium blockchain-based platform for sharing

new energy vehicle charging stations. This platform,

through the intelligent selection evaluation model for

charging stations, recommends the optimal charging

stations to users and facilitates charging transactions.

It effectively addresses the challenges of charging

difficulties for new energy vehicles and the wastage

of resources due to idle private charging stations,

while also generating income for charging station

owners. Through the case analysis, it is evident that

the platform meets the daily charging needs of new

energy vehicles, effectively safeguards user privacy

information, and optimizes the allocation of charging

station resources. This study provides valuable

insights for future research on shared charging station

applications.

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