Pricing-Driven Cooperative Mechanisms for Bidirectional Vehicle-to-Building Charging: An Evolutionary Game Approach

With rapid growth of electric vehicles (EVs), vehicle-to-building (V2B) interactions have emerged as a promising approach to enhance flexibility and sustainability in urban energy systems. However, existing studies often overlook the strategic decision-making processes of EV users and office building managers under pricing-based coordination schemes, which may limit the stability and effectiveness of cooperative V2B operation. To address this gap, this study develops an integrated framework combining evolutionary game theory and system dynamics to investigate pricing-driven interactions between EV users and office building managers within urban energy systems. A cost-benefit model is formulated for both parties to analyse the evolution of cooperative strategies, and a case study is conducted to identify EV charging and discharging price ranges conducive to stable cooperation. The results indicate that electricity price incentives and EV discharging profitability significantly promote cooperative behaviour, while higher EV discharging volumes and lower unilateral non-cooperation losses accelerate convergence to a stable cooperative equilibrium. A case study demonstrates that stable cooperation can be achieved when EV charging and discharging prices range from 1.3626-1.8333 and 0.483-0.9591 CNY/(kW∙h), respectively, in office building scenarios. These findings provide a theoretical basis for facilitating effective interactions between EVs and buildings in urban energy systems and offer practical insights for designing pricing mechanisms that support sustainable urban energy management and low-carbon transitions.