Optimal Allocation Model for EV Charging Stations Coordinating Investor and User Benefits

Deploying charging stations (CSs) catering to the demand from electric vehicles plays an important role in modernizing energy infrastructures. In this paper, a bi-level optimal allocation model for allocating fast CSs is proposed aiming to maximize the CS investor benefit (upper layer sub-problem) by optimally allocating CSs with the coordinated determination of the expected efficiency of charging service supply (lower layer sub-problem). The efficiency is formulated as a charging performance index in terms of user satisfaction degree, which mathematically couples the upper level and lower level sub-problems. The proposed nonlinear bi-level model is reduced to a single-layer optimization model under the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker optimality conditions. An improved dynamic differential evolution algorithm with an adaptive update strategy is proposed to solve this single-layer optimization model. The proposed method is validated using a realistic case. The test results show that the proposed methodology is able to co-ordinate both objectives of interest, i.e., allocating CSs network with the maximized benefits and optimizing the fast charging service efficiency at the same time.