The influence of location on the profitability of a charging station

Abstract

With the increasing number of electric vehicles on the road, the routing problem has become more complex. As charging electric vehicles takes longer than fueling non-electric vehicles, congestion can occur at charging stations. This might lead to the shortest route not being the fastest route, due to long waiting times at the stations. By communicating the intentions of each vehicle, the vehicles can spread out over multiple stations. This thesis investigates the eect of such a routing system on the profitability of charging stations. In particular, the influence of a charging station's location on its profitability has been researched. In order to do this, a pricing model has been developed to extend the routing model. It has become clear that due to the intention-aware routing, the number of visits at stations is harder to predict, and there is not always a clear pattern to be found between the location and the number of visits. This research does, however, propose an optimisation model, which can decide where to build a new charging station, such that the number of visits will be the highest.