PhD student position in charging and trip planning of electric vehicles

Project description
In this project, we will develop intelligent trip planning system for electric vehicles that will replace currently available navigators in production vehicles. The novel system will incorporate information shared with other vehicles and predictive information on power availability of chargers along the route, in order to optimally manage charging from both the vehicular and infrastructure perspective. Such a holistic perspective on intelligent trip planning has not been studied previously and the hypothesis is that a holistic approach is necessary to avoid queues at some charging stations and underutilization of other stations, while minimizing travel time and energy consumption for the individual electric vehicle user. We will develop stochastic models on the anticipated distribution of charging cost, power availability, waiting time and overstay cost at charging facilities. Advanced optimization techniques will be developed to answer the hypothesis, and the results will be demonstrated on a prototype vehicle, to prove its feasibility and take initial steps in technology development.

This project is in partnership with Volvo Cars, CEVT and Uppsala University, and will also work closely with multiple institutes, electricity providers and chargers' operators in Sweden. You will get an office at Chalmers University and will work for at least 3 months at both CEVT and Volvo Cars. An exchange visit will also be planned to a Swedish and/or an international university. As a PhD student you will be given opportunities for many inspiring conversations, plenty of autonomous work and some travel.

This project is coordinated by the Swedish Electromobility Centre and you will be enrolled in the centre's PhD network. You will enjoy the opportunity to follow the centre's activities and targeted courses on electromobility.

Information about the department
The PhD position is at the Mechatronics group, division of Systems and Control, department of Electrical Engineering. Here, a team of PhD students, post-docs and senior researchers are working on modelling and numerical optimization of problems in the areas of robotics, electromobility and autonomous driving. We offer advanced PhD courses where we extend the fundamentals in optimal control, machine learning, probability theory and similar. The research and learning environment is international and English is the working language. If Swedish is not your native language and you are interested in learning it, Chalmers offers Swedish courses that are free for PhD students. Although the knowledge of Swedish is not mandatory for teaching and research, many PhD students decide to follow these courses.

Major responsibilities
Your research will include fundamental theoretical studies, numerical simulations and experiments to develop world-leading engineering solutions. You are expected to publish papers of high quality, visit and present at international conferences and collaborate with teammates. The position is regarded as a full-time employment with a competitive monthly salary and full social benefits. It is limited to maximum 5 years and includes teaching at the undergraduate and MSc level, up to 20% of full time. There are no tuition fees for PhD studies at Chalmers.

Qualifications
To qualify for the position you must have, or expect to receive soon, a master's level degree corresponding to at least 240 higher education credits in Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Applied Physics, Mechanical Engineering or similar. Solid mathematical background is required and excellent grades are expected in most of the subjects.

Advantageous merits: knowledge in advanced model-based control, robotics, or automotive systems; solid background in physical modelling with differential equations, numerical optimization, control theory, deep learning, statistical modelling; previous teaching experience, programming skills (Matlab or Python are sufficient); experience of international exchange or collaboration.

Contract terms
Full-time temporary employment. The position is limited to a maximum of five years. The starting date is tentatively January 2023, but starting earler is also possible.

We offer
Chalmers offers a cultivating and inspiring working environment in the coastal city of Gothenburg. 
Read more about working at Chalmers and our benefits for employees.

Chalmers aims to actively improve our gender balance. We work broadly with equality projects, for example the GENIE Initiative on gender equality for excellence. Equality and diversity are substantial foundations in all activities at Chalmers.

Application procedure
The application should be marked with Ref 20220432 and written in English. The application should be sent electronically and be attached as PDF-files, as below. Maximum size for each file is 40 MB. Please note that the system does not support Zip files.

CV: (Please name the document: CV, Family name, Ref. number)
• CV
• Other, for example previous employments or leadership qualifications and positions of trust.
• Two references that we can contact.

Personal letter: (Please name the document as: Personal letter, Family name, Ref. number)
1-3 pages where you:
• Introduce yourself
• Describe your previous experience of relevance for the position (e.g. education, thesis work and, if applicable, any other research activities)
• Describe your future goals and future research focus

Other documents:
• Copies of bachelor and/or master’s thesis.
• Attested copies and transcripts of completed education, grades and other certificates, e.g. TOEFL test results.

Use the button at the foot of the page to reach the application form. 

Application deadline: 5 October, 2022