Project Description
Recent times have seen a remarkable surge in electric vehicle (EV) adoption within the automotive industry. With growing concerns about environmental sustainability and energy efficiency, EVs have emerged as a viable means to reduce carbon emissions and diminish reliance on fossil fuels. This shift toward electrification underscores the urgent necessity for a strategically positioned network of charging stations. These stations serve as vital components in seamlessly integrating EVs into our transportation framework, while also addressing the diverse range of behaviors associated with their acceptance.
For effective assimilation of EVs into our daily routines, it is imperative that charging stations are situated with foresight. The placement of these stations in optimal locations holds the potential to significantly influence user experience and the overall viability of the EV ecosystem. Ideally, these stations should be located in areas satisfying key criteria: accessibility to points generating trips, accessibility to points attracting trips, equitable accessibility for all EV users, acceptance by users with varying behaviors, and minimized costs for system providers.
In line with this, our project formulates a multi-period maximum locating problem using optimization techniques. This aims to pinpoint optimal charging station locations to meet forecasted demand within the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The provider of the system seeks locations that not only cater to convenient and accessible charging for EV users, especially apartment residents, but also minimize costs. In this vein, a preference is given to slow charging stations over fast charging ones. However, certain facilities that witness longer customer dwell times are identified as potential hosts for slow charging stations, with shopping malls serving as a prime example. As such, the model prioritizes the placement of slow charging stations to optimize accessibility for all EV users.
