Optimization of Charging Station Network Based on Maximum Usage Benefit

Abstract

China’s government has built a certain scale of charging station network. To address the problems of low charging station network utilization, the existence of a large number of redundant charging stations, and the diffi-culty of charging, this paper proposes a data-driven charging station network optimization approach. Firstly, this paper simulates the charging behavior of EV (electric vehicle), establishes queuing systems for charging stations in different time stamps, and then estimates the arrival rates among charging stations. On this basis, the spatial characteristics of urban EV charging behavior are analyzed, which is used to explore the urban EV charging hotspots. Then, the interactions among competitive dependencies, geographic features and user charging preferences among charging stations are modeled, and a scoring function is proposed to assess the usage benefit of charging station in the network. Lastly, a charging station network optimization model which aims at maximizing the usage benefit of charging station network is developed, and a heuristic network expansion algorithm based on charging hotspots is also presented to solve the model, and thus the optimal charging station network layout can be obtained. Taking a typical urban area as an example to conduct experiments, the experimental results demonstrate that the method proposed in this paper can not only improve charging station utilization while eliminating redundant stations, but also identify charging station network congestion areas, which can provide decision support for government planning departments to solve the charging difficulty.

Keywords

• |optimization of charging station network|electric vehicle (ev)|redundant charging station