Is Charge Sustaining Achievable in Electric Free-Floating Bicycle Sharing?

This paper explores the feasibility of a free-floating electric bicycle sharing system. They key enabling factor is to reduce the costs associated to recharging the batteries by applying the charge sustaining paradigm. The paper derives a model that describes the energy dynamics of a fleet of 300 bicycles. The model first guides the design of an Energy Management System and then quantitatively analyzes the feasibility of the bike-sharing system. In particular, we show that, although it is impossible to completely remove maintenance interventions, a rental rate of 2.5 picks per bicycle per day is enough to guarantee charge sustaining at the fleet level.