Heuristics for Electric Vehicle Charging Station allocation problem

The electric vehicles have been considered in advantage in terms of sustainability as well as emission of pollutants. However, the successful incorporation of electric vehicles in the actual transportation system depends on overcoming of two main barriers: the low range of the electric vehicles in comparison with traditional internal combustion vehicles, and the low number of electric recharging stations. By increasing the number of recharging points it is possible to compensate the range limitations of electric vehicles, nevertheless, creating this infrastructure causes high costs. Therefore, the objective of this study has been to develop an optimization methodology that allows planning of the recharging infrastructure for electric vehicles in an urban environment that minimizes the cost, based on provider's point of view.