Optimal siting of electric vehicle battery swapping stations with centralized charging

Electric mobility is becoming imperative for urban areas with rising air pollution levels. Governments across the world are implementing schemes for rollout of electric vehicles however a well-established charging infrastructure is the foremost requirement. Apart from setting up the charging network, it is equally important to ensure its optimal operation. Battery swapping has emerged as a feasible solution for quick charging of vehicles and makes immense sense for light duty vehicles. However, the optimal placement of such stations ensuring ease of access is a critical problem given the space constraints in city areas. Battery swapping stations may have a dedicated charging station or can be catered by a network of charging stations distributed conveniently across the city. The present work formulates the problem of determining the best locations for swapping stations so as to reduce the cost of transporting batteries from a set of charging stations and to ensure ease of access to vehicles in a city that has a symmetrical plan. A mathematical optimization framework has been created to solve the problem of optimal siting of battery swapping stations in the described city layout. The results are encouraging and the methodology can be of interest to city mobility planners and can also be applied to areas where an asymmetrical electric vehicle arrangement exists.