Emergency Management Plan for Electric Vehicles During Floods Using Daily Routing Patterns

Canada has witnessed damaging flooding events in the summer of 2023. During such events, trips should be rerouted to safer routes than those commonly used in typical day operational scenarios. The objective of this paper is to 1) prioritize Electric Vehicle (EV) trips while developing the safest routing plan for EVs, and 2) determine alternative safe locations for highly-used EV Charging Infrastructure (EVCI) during day-to-day operational scenarios. The Flood Susceptibility Index national map is used as an indicator of flood severity. Two-level frequency assessment matrices are developed to rank and prioritize EV trips and EVCI locations. Given limited resources, the nearest locations to the most critical EVCI locations are then determined on EVs’ safest routes. A case study is investigated in Halifax Municipality, Nova Scotia, where severe flash flooding events occurred in the summer of 2023. The findings of this paper will support policymakers while 1) planning EVCI during floods by identifying locations needing EVCI installation on the safest routes and 2) developing rerouting plans for EVs by comparing the consequences of different rerouting alternatives considering the availability of EVCI. These applications serve as a compromise between safety and mobility while developing traffic management plans for EVs during flooding events.