Abstract:

Electric vehicle charging infrastructure is essential to the successful operation of the electric transit system, so scientific and reasonable planning for electric transit charging facilities is crucial. However, transit agencies generally lack sufficient experiences and professional skills to plan and build charging systems. An excellent way for them is to cooperate with other companies that provide professional charging services. This cooperation is often executed by a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model such that the charging service provider builds and plans the charging system, operates it for several years, and then transfers the ownership to the transit agency. This research aims to investigate charging facilities planning for electric transit systems under the BOT model. As transit electrification is conducted in a gradual manner, the authors consider the planning under a multistage setting. The problem is modeled as a mixed-integer program. The authors apply the model to a real-world transit system in a metropolis of China, and some meaningful managerial insights are derived.