Electric vehicle charging stations layout research based on bi-level programming

As public service infrastructure of the city, the locating and sizing of electric vehicle charging stations should be based on actual charging demand. Obtaining the path traffic flow via introducing the stochastic user equilibrium (SUE) assignment model, the size configuration method of charging stations is proposed by combining with the user travel behavior rules to simulate charging demand of the electric vehicle. the models are structured based on the bi-level programming, the upper level model which aims at minimizing the sum of investment costs of investment operators and charging costs of electric vehicle users, the lower level model which aims at maximum the captured traffic flow. Imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) and integer programming algorithm are applied to solve the upper and lower level model of the bi-level programming model, respectively. The case study shows that the proposed model and method for the charging stations planning is reasonable and effective.