LOCATING CHARGING STATIONS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES IN RURAL AND URBAN NETWORKS

Abstract

Using new alternative fuels for motorized transportation vehicles has become increasingly popular with the growing concerns on the limitation of fossil fuels and environmental degradation. Introduction of numerous models of electric vehicles in the 21 century raised hope for replacing conventional internal combustion engine vehicles with these vehicles; however several barriers has adversely impacted the widespread adoption of these vehicles. Providing adequate number of charging stations and planning the layout of their infrastructure will help overcome some of the existing challenges. In this thesis, two formulations are presented for the optimal layout of these stations in rural and urban networks and the models are applied on two networks. For the rural model, the results indicate the solution is highly sensitive to the assumptions about the range of vehicles for which we are designing the layout. In the urban context, the decision about number and location of chargers is highly dependent on the probability threshold we choose for satisfying the demand.