Siting and Sizing Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles With Coordinated Recharging

The popularity of electric vehicles is increasing, but the public charging infrastructure is still insufficient. To reduce extra time spent with charging on everyday trips, we introduce a new charging infrastructure siting and sizing approach. We analyze daily schedules of drivers to find suitable locations for slow and fast charging stations. In simulation, we test how many charge points to assign to each charging station. Vehicles can be charged with either en-route or destination charging using a realistic model for charging and energy consumption for five electric vehicle models of different car segments. To reduce waiting times at charging stations, we use a centralized charging station database (CSDB), that coordinates charging between vehicles. We found that a combination of a few centralized fast charging stations and many distributed slow charging stations is the best option to improve the average extra time spent with charging for all vehicle types. We also found that by using the CSDB to coordinate charging between vehicles, we were able to significantly reduce the necessary number of charge points to achieve an acceptable average extra time. In our scenario, to reach an average extra time of 15 min, we only had to add 53 charge points when using the CSDB, compared to 104 without.

Automated summary

The popularity of electric vehicles is increasing, but there is still a lack of public charging infrastructure. A new approach for siting and sizing charging infrastructure is introduced to reduce extra time spent on charging during everyday trips. By analyzing daily schedules of drivers, suitable locations for slow and fast charging stations are identified. Simulation testing is conducted to determine the number of charge points to assign to each charging station. The use of a centralized charging station database (CSDB) helps coordinate charging between vehicles, reducing waiting times at charging stations and the necessary number of charge points.