Optimal Deployment of Alternative Fueling Stations on Transportation Networks Considering Deviation Paths

The lack of sufficient public fueling stations for Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs) has greatly hindered their adoption. In this paper, we describe a novel Alternative Fueling Station (AFS) location model by considering the behaviors of AFV users who are willing to deviate slightly from their most preferred routes to ensure that their AFVs with limited travel ranges can be refueled en route to their destinations. The model considers multiple deviation paths between each of the origin–destination (O-D) pairs. It relaxes the commonly adopted assumption that travelers only take a shortest path between any O-D pairs. The model provides the most cost-effective deployment strategy of siting AFSs that are needed on the network to satisfy AFV demand between all O-D pairs. We examine the model on two test networks, the Sioux Falls network and a 25-node network, and draw insights into the numerical tradeoffs between station deployment, vehicle ranges, and route deviations. The results show that deviation paths can greatly reduce the cost of establishing AFSs on networks without compromising user convenience much. In addition, an “elbow point” rule is used to identify the most cost-effective AFV travel range in terms of the total cost of building AFSs.