CONSENT: A Negotiation Framework for Leveraging User Flexibility in Vehicle-to-Building Charging under Uncertainty

Rishav Sen, Fangqi Liu, Jose Paolo Talusan, Ava Pettet, Yoshinori Suzue, Mark Bailey, Ayan Mukhopadhyay, Abhishek Dubey

Keywords: User Negotiations, Mechanism design, Vehicle-to-Building, Sparse rewards, Uncertainty handling, Constrained Decision making

TL;DR: We propose a strategy-proof, MPC-based negotiation framework that incentivizes small, voluntary EV charging flexibility to reduce building energy costs while lowering user charging expenses under uncertainty

Track: Highlight Paper

Abstract:

The growth of Electric Vehicles (EVs) creates a conflict in vehicle-to-building (V2B) settings between building operators, who face high energy costs from uncoordinated charging, and drivers, who prioritize convenience and a full charge. To resolve this, we propose a negotiation-based framework that, by design, guarantees voluntary participation, strategy-proofness, and budget feasibility. It transforms EV charging into a strategic resource by offering drivers a range of incentive-backed options for bounded flexibility in their departure time or requested state of charge (SoC).
Our framework is calibrated using user survey data and validated with real operational data from a commercial building at the Nissan Advanced Technology Center -- Silicon Valley.
Simulations show that our negotiation protocol creates a mutually beneficial outcome: lowering the building operator's costs by over 3.5\% compared to an optimized, non-negotiating smart charging policy, while simultaneously reducing user charging expenses by 22\% below the utility's retail energy rate.
By aligning operator and EV user objectives, our framework provides a strategic bridge between energy and mobility systems, transforming EV charging from a source of operational friction into a platform for collaboration and shared savings.

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Submission Number: 8