The two and half minute walk

Fast charging of electric vehicles and the economic value of walkability

Journal Article (2019)
Author(s)

B. Mashhoodi (TU Delft - OLD Urban Compositions, TU Delft - Environmental Technology and Design)

Arjan V. Van Timmeren (TU Delft - Environmental Technology and Design, AMS Institute)

Nils H. Van Der Blij (TU Delft - DC systems, Energy conversion & Storage)

Research Group
Environmental Technology and Design
Copyright
© 2019 B. Mashhoodi, A. van Timmeren, N.H. van der Blij
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1177/2399808319885383
More Info
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Publication Year
2019
Language
English
Copyright
© 2019 B. Mashhoodi, A. van Timmeren, N.H. van der Blij
Research Group
Environmental Technology and Design
Issue number
4
Volume number
48
Pages (from-to)
638-654
Reuse Rights

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Abstract

The number of electric vehicles in the Netherlands has sharply increased over the past decade. This has caused a need for the allocation of a substantial amount of new electric vehicle chargers around the country, which in turn has been acknowledged by a variety of legislative bodies. However, the approach of how these new charging infrastructures need to be spatially distributed has yet to be decided, including the distance that an electric vehicle charger could be allocated from the final destination of its driver. The hypothesis of this study is that if residents walk a longer distance to/from these charging stations, the chargers could be shared by a greater number of electric vehicle owners, and the total cost of the new charging infrastructure could be reduced. By using linear integer programming, the minimum cost of allocating new fast-charging stations in a central, densely populated area of Amsterdam, accounting for 7% of the city’s population, is calculated. The results show that if residents were to walk for five minutes (roughly 400 metres) instead of two and half minutes (roughly 200 metres), the overall cost of new electric vehicle chargers could be reduced by more than 1 million euros. The study also found that both the cost of new charging stations and their efficiency of use are vastly affected by the portion of the charging infrastructure that is saved for people visiting the area. The findings of this study are discussed in detail, including the proposal of potential further studies.