Schedule rating method based on a fragmentation criterion

Sharing electric vehicles among companies and users can increase efficiency of corporate car fleets. Due to charging times and limited ranges, high quality scheduling is necessary to achieve a high degree of utilization and in turn economic efficiency. Schedule optimization can help improving a schedule regarding utilization and cost, but does not take into account possible future bookings. If a schedule is fragmented, no future bookings can fit in. In this work, we introduce a measurement for the fragmentation of schedules and use it to minimize fragmentation and in turn maximize future booking potential. We evaluate the approach using synthetic and real-life trials, showing that fragmentation reduction can lead to increased utilization in electric vehicle fleets.