Set cover model-based optimum location of electric vehicle charging stations

The adoption rate of electric vehicles (EVs) is affected by the availability of charging stations (CS). The optimum location of CS in a city is a major part of the charging infrastructure for EVs. Factors like charging demand, charging time, investment cost, etc. affect the location decision of CS. This study presents a set cover problem-based methodology to optimally locate fast-charging stations for mixed traffic flow in NCT-Delhi, India, by maximizing the coverage range of CS. The study area was divided into grid-like zones and geographical infor­mation system (GIS) was used to analyse the distance matrix of the study-area grid map. For mixed traffic flow, different EV penetration rates were assumed to calculate the charging demands. We used origin and destination data, distance matrix and mixed traffic flow data of NCT-Delhi. The different vehicle categories conside­red from the mixed traffic flow in this study were two-wheelers, three-wheelers, four-wheelers and commercial vehicles (CVs). The results show that when each CS has a coverage range of 3 km, a total of 62 CS are required. Further, a decrease in the coverage range by 1 km leads to an increase in the number of required CS by 72%. This study shows the exact location of these CS on the GIS map of the study region