A novel site selection approach for Co-location of petrol-hydrogen fueling stations using a game theory-based multi-criteria decision-making model

Proliferation of co-located petrol-hydrogen fueling stations is an effective solution for widespread deployment of hydrogen as a transportation fuel. Such combined fueling stations largely rely on existing infrastructure, hence represent a low-cost option for setting up hydrogen fueling facilities. However, optimizing the layout of dual petrol-hydrogen fueling stations, and their rational site selection is critical for ensuring the efficient use of resources. This paper investigates the site selection of combined hydrogen and petrol fueling stations at the terminus of China's "West-to-East Hydrogen Pipeline" project. A weighting model based on EWM-CRITIC-Game Theory is developed, and the weight coefficients derived from game theory are used to perform the comprehensive ranking of potential sites. The combined evaluation results yield an overall ranking of A9 > A4 > A8 > A26 > A20 > A21 > A11. The effectiveness of this novel method is verified by comparing the results with those obtained from Copeland, Borda, Average, and geometric mean methods. Considering the actual distance constraints, the final site ranking is A9 > A4 > A8 > A20 > A21 > A11 > A14. This location offers optimal conditions for infrastructure integration and hydrogen fueling service coverage. The reliability analysis indicates that the proposed game theory-based method delivers strong performance across various scenarios, underscoring its reliability and versatility in consistently delivering accurate results. • Game theory is introduced to balance the weighting methods. • The new aggregated ranking method highlights the impact of key weighting methods. • Straight-line distances between the candidates are considered for site selection. • The proposed method has high reliability and versatility across various scenarios.