Sustainable charger location and capacity strategies supporting green transformation process at gas stations for solving range anxiety: A real case study

The global increase in electric vehicle (EV) usage is evident; however, inadequate infrastructure in many regions still creates range anxiety among drivers. To address this concern, this paper presents a two-stage methodology for analyzing green transformation projects at existing gas stations towards determination of the most appropriate location and capacity decisions. The first stage of the methodology involves a state of charge tracking optimization model to enhance the process of making location decisions and the optimization model is run several times by considering different parameter values to evaluate potential locations for electric vehicle charger installation. In the second stage, a simulation model is constructed to explore capacity decisions based on various scenarios related to regional densities. Afterwards, extensively tested experiments are performed through a real case from Trabzon province of the Karadeniz Coastal Road, a geographically significant area in Turkey's Eastern Black Sea region, to obtain remarkable insights and policy recommendations. As a result, policy recommendations derived from this study emphasize the prioritization of charging station installations at high-frequency locations and tailoring the number of charging units to regional density. The significance of this study is to offer adaptable solutions for various locations, enhance practical utility and support informed decision-making in infrastructure planning by providing a proposed two-stage methodology for sustainable transportation planning.