A Reliable Deployment Strategy for Public Electric Vehicle Charging Stations: A Discrete Event Simulation Model for Power Grid and Traffic Networks

Abstract

Today, with the help of low-cost and clean electricity, electric vehicles (EVs) show great potential for future urban transportation with little greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. However, the use of EVs is still in its infancy with limited numbers of users worldwide. Public charging infrastructures can be one of the drivers to enhance the prevalence of EVs. In this paper, we aim to develop a framework to establish a reliable urban public charging infrastructure. We first determine the optimal locations and size of those stations by a robust optimization model incorporating uncertain traffic flows and existing power grid networks; and then we use a discrete event simulation approach to model more realistic charging demands. We further improve these optimal solutions and verify the EV charging infrastructure considering both power and transportation networks. We validate our models with real traffic and power grid data from a Southeast Chinese municipality.