EV Charger Planning Simulation for Optimal Placement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current charger planning for electric vehicles does not effectively account for traffic conditions and usage states of charging facilities, leading to inefficiencies in charger utilization and user convenience.
Innovation Solution
A charger arrangement planning supporting apparatus that simulates the movement of virtual electric vehicles and the usage of virtual chargers on a virtual road network, determining which chargers to use based on vehicle location, residual charge, and charger availability, outputting movement and operation histories for planning charger settings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If more chargers are installed to reduce user concern over running out of power, then user convenience is improved, but installation cost and operational expenses increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by simulating charger usage patterns and traffic conditions before actual charger deployment. The simulation predicts future charger occupancy and vehicle arrival times, enabling planners to pre-determine optimal charger locations and quantities without installing excessive chargers, thus reducing costs while maintaining user convenience.
Solution Approach 2:
The simulation system provides feedback on charger utilization rates, waiting times, and vehicle movement patterns. This feedback loop allows iterative optimization of charger placement, enabling the system to achieve adequate user convenience with fewer chargers by continuously improving placement based on simulated performance data.
2Reliability
If charger locations are increased to ensure availability, then reliability of charging service is improved, but cost of setting facilities increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary simulation to identify critical locations where chargers are most needed based on predicted traffic patterns and vehicle ranges. By pre-calculating optimal placement before deployment, the system ensures reliable charging availability at key locations without unnecessarily increasing overall facility complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The simulation enables differentiated charger placement strategies for different locations based on local traffic conditions, vehicle density, and route importance. High-traffic areas receive priority charger placement while low-traffic areas use fewer chargers, optimizing reliability where needed without uniformly increasing complexity across all locations.
3Ease of operation
If real-time charger status information is provided to drivers, then ease of finding available chargers is improved, but information processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The simulation system pre-calculates and stores charger status information, vehicle routes, and availability predictions before they are needed. This preliminary information preparation reduces real-time processing requirements when drivers query charger status, as much of the data is already prepared and can be quickly retrieved rather than computed on-demand.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates simplified copies of complex simulation data for driver display. Instead of transmitting full simulation datasets, the system generates condensed information copies showing only essential charger status and location data needed by drivers, reducing information processing load while maintaining ease of charger location finding.
Data Source
AI summary
A charger arrangement planning supporting apparatus includes a simulation unit configured to simulate, on a virtual road network, movement of a plurality of virtual electric vehicles and consumption of rechargeable batteries and simulate situations of use of the plurality of virtual chargers arranged on the virtual road network and a charger determining unit configured to select which of the virtual chargers is used to charge the virtual electric vehicle when the virtual electric vehicle needs to be charged on the basis of residual charge of the rechargeable battery and a present location of the virtual electric vehicle and a situation of use and a location of each of the chargers,. The simulation unit outputs, after finishing the simulation, a movement history of the virtual electric vehicle and an operation history of the virtual charger.