Optimising electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Dublin using GEEcharge

Range anxiety poses a hurdle to the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs), as drivers worry about running out of charge without timely access to a Charging Point (CP). We present novel methods for optimising the distribution of CPs, namely, EV portacharge and GEECharge. These solutions distribute CPs in Dublin, in this paper, by considering the population density and Points Of Interest (POIs) or road traffic. The object of this paper is to (1) develop and evaluate methods to distribute CPs in Dublin city; (2) optimise CP allocation; (3) visualise paths in the graph network to show the most used roads and POIs; and (4) evaluate the efficacy of the solutions. The criterion for success used in this paper is that, an EV is within a 500m range of the CP, when it runs out of charge. Our findings show that, in Dublin City, 121 CPs are an optimal number for a 1km² area. Discrete event simulation establishes the superiority of the GEECharge method, which exhibits a 2.2% higher efficiency compared to the EV Portacharge method. Population density, POIs, and road usage patterns are crucial factors that demand careful consideration when formulating a comprehensive framework for CP distribution.