TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) represent a rapidly evolving technology which relies on electric power rather than petrol. A new such energy dependence requires the development of an infrastructure system for en-route re-charging options, be that fast charging stations or battery swap stations. Optimally locating re-charging infrastructure requires knowledge of PEVs’ spatiotemporal travel patterns, which are inherently dependent on PEV users’ travel behaviour. Furthermore, a limited battery capacity results in a distance constraint for PEV drivers, inevitably impacting their travel and activity patterns, and thus, the performance of the transport system. To properly evaluate re-charging infrastructure design decisions the constraints on PEV users’ route choice must be incorporated into transport planning models. Using a novel distance constrained user-equilibrium-based assignment model which allows re-charging requirements to be incorporated into the traditional traffic assignment problem, we evaluate the impact of PEV traveller’s en route re-charging needs on the network system performance under various re-charging station location options. We quantify the potential system performance improvement achievable by optimally locating re-charging stations, and also identify key scenarios in which infrastructure planning decisions result in sub-optimal network performance. The analysis motivates the use of modified traffic assignment models when designing re-charging infrastructure systems within transport networks with PEVs