A new computational model can help with implementing EV charging stations

According to World Economic Forum, the model can also be used to show how powerful a certain charging station can be without affecting the local power grid.

Leila Hajibabai, assistant professor in the industrial and systems engineering department at North Carolina State University, said that "ultimately, we feel the model can be used to inform the development of EV charging infrastructure at multiple levels, from projects aimed at supporting local commuters to charging facilities that serve interstate highway travel."

Charging stations can't be implemented everywhere, since the traffic flow needs to be constant enough to justify the investment and then there is also the question of the power grid being able to support the demanded charging speeds.

“We have developed a model that allows planners to optimize these decisions, serving the greatest number of people without taxing the power system,” Hajibabai added.

Researchers who looked into the EV charging station problem said that so far, the efforts of implementing them only looked into one of the matters. So, they either took into account if there's enough EV traffic in a specific area, or if the power grid can support a charging station system.

“Very little work has been done that addresses both. And those cases that looked at both power and transportation systems did not take into account the decisions that users make. Where do they want to charge their vehicles? What are their travel plans?", she says.

The ideal balance when it comes to the implementation of charging stations implies taking into account traffic flow, distances between commutes and also the ability of the power grid to support the charging infrastructure.

The computational model tries to identify the most suitable locations for EV charging points in order to minimize travel time for drivers.