A Cellular Automata Agent-Based Hybrid Simulation Tool to Analyze the Deployment of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

Amaro García-Suárez, José-Luis Guisado-Lizar, Fernando Diaz-del-Rio and Francisco Jiménez-Morales
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Amaro García-Suárez: Department of Computer Architecture and Technology, Universidad de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes s/n, 41012 Sevilla, Spain
José-Luis Guisado-Lizar: Department of Computer Architecture and Technology, Universidad de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes s/n, 41012 Sevilla, Spain
Fernando Diaz-del-Rio: Department of Computer Architecture and Technology, Universidad de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes s/n, 41012 Sevilla, Spain
Francisco Jiménez-Morales: Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Universidad de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes s/n, 41012 Sevilla, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-14

Abstract: We present a hybrid model combining cellular automata (CA) and agent-based modeling (ABM) to analyze the deployment of electric vehicle charging stations through microscopic traffic simulations. This model is implemented in a simulation tool called SIMTRAVEL, which allows combining electric vehicles (EVs) and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) that navigate in a city composed of streets, avenues, intersections, roundabouts, and including charging stations (CSs). Each EV is modeled as an agent that incorporates complex behaviors, such as decisions about the route to destination or CS, when to drive to a CS, or which CS to choose. We studied three different CS arrangements for a synthetic city: a single large central CS, four medium sized distributed CSs or multiple small distributed CSs, with diverse amounts of traffic and proportions of EVs. The simulator output is found to be robust and meaningful and allows one to extract a first useful conclusion: traffic conditions that create bottlenecks around the CSs play a crucial role, leading to a deadlock in the city when the traffic density is above a certain critical level. Our results show that the best disposition is a distributed network, but it is fundamental to introduce smart routing measures to balance the distribution of EVs among CSs.

Keywords: electric vehicles; charging station; traffic modeling and simulation; cellular automata; agent-based modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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