A Multi-Purpose Method for Sizing and Placement of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in Urban Areas

To support the trend of replacing gasoline-powered vehicles with electric vehicles (EVs), strategic insight into the sizing and placement of EV charging stations is an inevitable part of urban planning. Inadequate consideration of cost factors in urban areas, including the cost of the area, upgrades to protection devices, and voltage support services, can lead to uneconomical outcomes. Meanwhile, paying attention to customer satisfaction by providing easier access to stations and charging ports, as long as the cost does not exceed the budget, is another aspect addressed in our work. Our multi-purpose framework highlights the trade-offs among these factors, applicable to different cities worldwide. A simple meta-heuristic optimization algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), is employed in this paper to determine the minimum value of the single aggregated cost function. Numerical results illustrate the trade-offs and interrelationships among key factors, as well as the effectiveness of the proposed strategy in determining the optimal sizing and placement of EV charging stations. The results indicate an 8.5% cost reduction while maintaining a customer dissatisfaction index (CDSI) below the critical value.