Efficient allocation of recharging stations for electric vehicles in urban environments

Abstract

With the aim of decreasing today's dependency on oil, a growing interest in vehicles powered by alternative fuels, such as electric vehicles, has been generated. However, the successful incorporation of electric vehicles in the actual transportation system depends on overcoming of two main barriers: the low range of the electric vehicles in comparison with traditional internal combustion vehicles, and the low number of electric recharging stations. By increasing the number of recharging points it is possible to compensate the range limitations of electric vehicles, nevertheless, creating this infrastructure causes high costs. Therefore, the objetive of this study has been to develop an optimization methodology that allows planning of the recharging infrastructure for electric vehicles in an urban environment that minimizes the cost. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.