Social Network Optimization for Electric Vehicles Charging Stations Deployment

The urge to achieve a green infrastructure makes addressing the issue of optimal deployment of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) crucial. To cater to the growing demand, it's essential to design charging infrastructure that maximizes user satisfaction. Public and private sectors active in this field need effective location allocation strategies to stay competitive in the market. Regarding this problem, Evolutionary Algorithms offer a potent and versatile approach to determining the best placement for charging stations. These algorithms' flexibility makes them well-suited for incorporating various constraints and performance metrics. This study employs a recently developed Evolutionary Algorithm, known as Social Network Optimization, to identify the optimal positioning of charging stations. The algorithm takes into account the residential density within cities to compute a Quality-of-Service parameter. The methodology was applied to Genoa and Turin, two Italian cities. The obtained results showcase the promising efficiency and flexibility of this approach in the task of deploying charging stations.