A feasibility study of fast charging infrastructure for EVs on highways

A wide penetration of electric vehicles (EVs), though their economic and environmental benefits have been proven, would offer some challenges as well. The limited size of batteries and their long charging duration can dramatically increase travel times on long highways where recharging is unavoidable. This paper investigates the impact of key parameters on the duration of traveling for EVs on highways. The capacity requirements of fast charging stations are the main deliverables from this research. The number of charging stations, number of charging sockets per station, charging power and the number of charging sockets per EV needed are among the parameters studied in this paper. Statistical information on waiting times for EVs at charging stations constitutes the output of the study. Fundamental characteristics of EVs and EV drivers such as the size of batteries, state of charge (SOC) of batteries, and traveling speed of EVs are captured through scenarios generated using Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). The study is applied to a real highway in Finland, with actual traffic data provided by the Finnish Transport Agency.