2604003657
  • Open Access
  • Article

Adaptive Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Electric Vehicle On-Road Charging Optimization Under Dynamic Traffic Conditions

  • Shaghayegh Rabbanian 1,   
  • Hao Wang 2,*,   
  • Lei Wu 2

Received: 23 Sep 2025 | Revised: 12 Apr 2026 | Accepted: 14 Apr 2026 | Published: 09 May 2026

Abstract

Given the rapid growth of Electric vehicles (EVs) and their finite battery life, improving on-road charging strategies presents significant challenges, including customer dissatisfaction due to long waiting times and the dynamic nature of the traffic data can lead to choosing suboptimal charging station. Traditional approaches primarily depend on fixed road data; our model utilizes real-time traffic data from Google Maps to capture live congestion patterns and dynamically optimize charging assignments for the vehicles to minimize costs and improve overall driver satisfaction. This study focuses on three fundamental questions for the optimal on-road charging of a fleet of EVs: (i) when is the best time to charge the vehicle; (ii) where is the optimal charging location for each EV; and (iii) how should charging be planned considering the condition of the road and battery level. Our objective is to determine the optimal time and location for electric vehicle charging that minimizes the weighted sum of travel and charging time, charging cost, and associated penalties for late charging and station overutilization, while taking into account key factors such as real-time traffic conditions, the spatial distribution of charging stations, and EV-specific attributes such as state of charge (SOC), driving range, and travel efficiency. To develop a robust and adaptive EV charging recommendation system, we employ Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL) to derive an intelligent, self-improving charging strategy that dynamically adapts to changing situations. Numerical simulations demonstrate that our model provides an applicable and scalable solution for EV users and urban planners, contributing to more efficient and intelligent EV charging infrastructure. We also compared the results of our MARL model with an exact approach in small-scale using Gurobi package in Python.

References 

  • 1.

    IEA. Global EV Outlook 2020. Available online: https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2020 (accessed on 15 June 2020).

  • 2.

    Suanpang, P.; Jamjuntr, P. Optimizing Electric Vehicle Charging Recommendation in Smart Cities: A Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Approach. World Electr. Veh. J. 2024, 15, 67.

  • 3.

    Park, K.; Moon, I. Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach for EV Charging Scheduling in a Smart Grid. Appl. Energy 2022, 328, 120111.

  • 4.

    Su, S.; Li, Y.; Yamashita, K.; et al. Electric Vehicle Charging Guidance Strategy Considering “Traffic Network-Charging Station-Driver” Modeling: A Multiagent Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Approach. IEEE Trans. Transp. Electrif. 2023, 10, 4653–4666.

  • 5.

    Bus¸oniu, L.; Babuska, R.; De Schutter, B. Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning: An Overview. Innov. Multi-Agent Syst. Appl. 2010, 183–221.

  • 6.

    Kraemer, L.; Banerjee, B. Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning as a Rehearsal for Decentralized Planning. Neurocomputing 2016, 190, 82–94.

  • 7.

    Busoniu, L.; Babuska, R.; De Schutter, B. A Comprehensive Survey of Multiagent Reinforcement Learning. IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part C Appl. Rev. 2008, 38, 156–172.

  • 8.

    Lu, C.; Bao, Q.; Xia, S.; et al. Centralized Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Agent Cooperative Environments. Evol. Intell. 2024, 17, 267–273.

  • 9.

    Lowe, R.; Wu, Y.I.; Tamar, A.; et al. Multi-Agent Actor-Critic for Mixed Cooperative-Competitive Environments. In Proceedings of the 31st Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS 2017), Long Beach, CA, USA, 4–9 December 2017.

  • 10.

    Foerster, J.; Farquhar, G.; Afouras, T.; et al. Counterfactual Multi-Agent Policy Gradients. In Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, New Orleans, LA, USA, 2–7 February 2018.

  • 11.

    Wen, M.; Kuba, J.; Lin, R.; et al. Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Is a Sequence Modeling Problem. Adv. Neural Inf. Process. Syst. 2022, 35, 16509–16521.

  • 12.

    Zhang, W.; Liu, H.; Xiong, H.; et al. RLCharge: Imitative Multi-Agent Spatiotemporal Reinforcement Learning for Electric Vehicle Charging Station Recommendation. IEEE Trans. Knowl. Data Eng. 2022, 35, 6290–6304.

  • 13.

    Li, Y.; Su, S.; Zhang, M.; et al. Multi-Agent Graph Reinforcement Learning Method for Electric Vehicle On-Route Charging Guidance in Coupled Transportation Electrification. IEEE Trans. Sustain. Energy 2024, 15, 1180–1193.

  • 14.

    Zhang, Z.; Wan, Y.; Qin, J.; et al. A Deep RL-Based Algorithm for Coordinated Charging of Electric Vehicles. IEEE Trans. Intell. Transp. Syst. 2022, 23, 18774–18784.

  • 15.

    Suanpang, P.; Jamjuntr, P.; Jermsittiparsert, K.; et al. Adaptive Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Optimizing Dynamic Electric Vehicle Charging Networks in Thailand. World Electr. Veh. J. 2024, 15, 453.

  • 16.

    Maria, E.; Budiman, E.; Taruk, M.; et al. Measure Distance Locating Nearest Public Facilities Using Haversine and Euclidean Methods. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Applied Science and Technology (iCAST on Engineering Science), Bali, Indonesia, 24–25 October 2019; Volume 1450, p. 012080.

  • 17.

    Sutton, R.S.; Precup, D.; Singh, S. Between MDPs and Semi-MDPs: A Framework for Temporal Abstraction in Reinforcement Learning. Artif. Intell. 1999, 112, 181–211.

  • 18.

    Bacon, P.L.; Harb, J.; Precup, D. The Option-Critic Architecture. In Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, San Francisco, CA, USA, 4–9 February 2017; Volume 31, pp. 1726–1734.

  • 19.

    Dulac-Arnold, G.; Evans, R.; van Hasselt, H.; et al. Deep Reinforcement Learning in Large Discrete Action Spaces. arXiv 2015, arXiv:1512.07679.

  • 20.

    Hausknecht, M.; Stone, P. Deep Reinforcement Learning in Parameterized Action Space. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2–4 May 2016.

  • 21.

    PettingZoo Documentation. Available online: https://pettingzoo.farama.org/index.html (accessed on 31 August 2025).

  • 22.

    Yu, C.; Velu, A.; Vinitsky, E.; et al. The Surprising Effectiveness of PPO in Cooperative Multi-Agent Games. Adv. Neural Inf. Process. Syst. 2022, 35, 24611–24624.

  • 23.

    Weights & Biases AI developer platform. Available online: https://wandb.ai/ (accessed on 31 August 2025).

Share this article:
How to Cite
Rabbanian, S.; Wang, H.; Wu, L. Adaptive Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Electric Vehicle On-Road Charging Optimization Under Dynamic Traffic Conditions. AI Engineering 2026, 2 (1), 2. https://doi.org/10.53941/aieng.2026.100002.
RIS
BibTex
Copyright & License
article copyright Image
Copyright (c) 2026 by the authors.