On sustainable positioning of electric vehicle charging stations in cities: An integrated approach for the selection of indicators

Abstract

Recent interest in planning a suitable charging infrastructure for electric mobility has motivated many studies. In this domain, attention towards key indicators of sustainable locations is crucial because they can provide informative signals to planning suitable charging station networks in cities according to multiple target attributes of sustainability. However, past literature has focused on “how to evaluate these key indicators of sustainable locations” by somewhat disregarding “which key indicators of sustainable locations were to be measured” based on the viewpoint of sustainability. This study presents a unified approach, identifying a long list of these indicators and then selecting a smaller set by applying an analytical hierarchy process, an algorithm, which aggregates weights and outcome marks, and a Monte Carlo simulation to an international survey. A relevant set of five overlapping key indicators of sustainable locations is designated by merging three different ranking methods. The results revealed a close semi-compensatory connection between transport and urban planning choices. These findings may support the planning of sustainable and suitable electric vehicle charging stations in cities according to a common set of key indicators of sustainable locations.