Different Demand for Charging Infrastructure along a Stretch of Highway: Italian Case Study

Electric Vehicles (EVs) play an important role to reach the global ambitious climate and air quality goals. The timely implementation of adequate EV charging infrastructure is critical to the success of the ecological revolution. However, at the same time, EV adoption is the main driver for the business case of EV charging infrastructure. In order to implement an optimal charging infrastructure, it is important to consider all the relevant factors which influence the charging demand of EVs. This paper aims to evaluate the charging infrastructure on highways by considering several factors that impact electric vehicle deployment. To do this, a simulation model is developed. An agent-based approach, according the AnyLogic software tool, is used to emulate the human behavior and its impact on load demand due to EV charging. Furthermore, a discrete event method is applied for simulating the queue in the charging stations. Therefore, an electric vehicle routing algorithm is developed, which analyses the current status of the charging infrastructure along the highway considering an EV traffic flow travels in the highway in one day.