HIVE: Highly Integrated Vehicle Ecosystem Simulation Framework

NREL's Highly Integrated Vehicle Ecosystem (HIVE) framework simulates the operations of mobility-service-provider fleets.

HIVE's flexible design enables researchers to build large-scale simulation matrices and compare outcomes across scenarios that vary with respect to parameters such as:

Locations and operating areas
Vehicle types and fleet makeup
Electric vehicle (EV) charging and fueling station networks
Fleet operational behaviors and dispatching algorithms
Economic factors and relevant policy considerations
Customer behavior (i.e., willingness to pool or delay travel).

Approach and Uses

Photo of three people looking at a large screen displaying vehicle fleet statistics (passenger trips, empty miles traveled, idling, and charging data) for the Austin area

NREL researchers review HIVE outputs for the Austin, Texas, area

HIVE provides insight into how mobility service operations impact energy use, emissions, vehicle usage patterns, and levels of service. Researchers use this versatile tool to identify the number and types of vehicles necessary to support a known travel demand, project fleet performance in response to EV charging infrastructure availability, reduce traffic congestion, assess performance improvements attributed to increased passenger pooling, and more.

HIVE models vehicles and charging/fueling stations as individual agents that combine to form an integrated system. This approach to modeling enables detailed reporting at multiple levels of abstraction. For example, key performance metrics can be derived at the vehicle level, the vehicle-type level, or the vehicle-fleet level for any simulation. Similarly, electrical load profiles and utilization levels can be calculated for individual stations, combinations of stations, or across the entire network.

Download HIVE

The open-source HIVE simulation framework is available for free download via GitHub.

Publications

Electrifying New York City Ride-Hailing Fleets: An Examination of the Need for Public Fast Charging, iScience (2022)

The Highly Integrated Vehicle Ecosystem (HIVE): A Platform for Managing the Operations of On-Demand Vehicle Fleets, NREL Technical Report (2021)

Contact

To learn more about the Highly Integrated Vehicle Ecosystem simulation framework or to explore related partnership opportunities, contact us at HIVE@nrel.gov.