Abstract
To achieve net-zero in the transportation sector, there is a need to deploy public electric vehicle (EV) fast chargers to boost customer confidence. Currently, charge point operators and EV manufacturers focus on deploying chargers to cover highway networks and the progress in urban environments is inadequate. This is becoming an obstacle for potential EV buyers who do not have access to dedicated chargers or cannot afford expensive EVs with larger battery packs. Since mainstream combustion engine vehicle drivers are accustomed to using petrol stations, this paper examines the suitability of such sites as candidate locations to deploy fast chargers. Spatial analysis is carried out by comparing their coverage performance with existing locations of the fast chargers. More specifically, the location problem is modelled as a maximum coverage location problem (MCLP) and solved using a geographic information system (GIS) based platform. The spatial optimization problem is solved using a linear-programming relaxation based MCLP algorithm developed in Python. Five cities with growing populations, namely San Clara, CA, Salt Lake City, UT, Raleigh, NC, Denver, CO, and Los Angeles, CA, are chosen as case studies. The location analysis is carried out with two demand metrics (population and road traffic) using actual GIS data collected from public authorities. The results show that deploying fast chargers at existing fuel stations significantly increases the coverage needed for EVs. This study will provide useful insights into EV fast charging station planning in urban cities, as the related research is still in its infancy.
Highlights
By year 2030, more than ten of the world’s leading economies such as Norway, UK, and Netherlands aim to ban the sales of petrol/diesel cars, while the number of countries aiming to reach 100% electric vehicle (EV) sales is expected to be doubled by year 2040 and will include the majority of the Group of Twenty (G20) countries that represent more than 80% of the global economy [6]
Mass adopters may not be as informed as the early adopters and there will be a need for a higher number of EV charging station, for drivers with no access to garage charging
We present collected GIS data sets of five major cities in the United States with growing populations to analyze the coverage of petrol and existing EV fast charging stations
Summary
Electric vehicles (EVs) form a nexus between transportation and power sectors that are under epochal transformation towards a net-zero future. It has been well-documented in the literature that EVs offer substantial societal benefits, such as climate change mitigation and improvement of urban air-quality [1]. Mass adopters may not be as informed as the early adopters and there will be a need for a higher number of EV charging station, for drivers with no access to garage charging. A recent study presented in [15] shows that one fifth of EV owners in California have switched back to combustion vehicles due to dissatisfaction (lack of coverage and long service durations) with the charging infrastructure.
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