Optimal sizing of electric vehicle charging station considering charging scheduling strategy

The widespread use of electric vehicles (EVs) strongly depends on the construction of EV charging stations (EVCSs) that should fulfill charging requests while considering various economic issues. This paper investigates the optimal sizing of an EVCS integrated with renewable energy generators, an energy storage system (ESS), and multiple types of chargers. The optimal sizing problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program that takes seasonal variations of renewable energy generation into account, while aiming to minimize the equivalent annual total cost of the EVCS. Then, a novel charging scheduling strategy for EVs is developed by considering charger utilization efficiency, thereby reducing unnecessary expenses. Finally, different case studies are analyzed to verify the effectiveness and economic performance of the proposed strategy. The results indicate that incorporating EV charging scheduling into the optimal sizing problem can improve the economic performance of the EVCS.