Analysis and quality of service evaluation of a fast charging station for electric vehicles

Electrification of transportation is considered as one of the most promising ways to mitigate climate change and reduce national security risks from oil and gasoline imports. Fast charging stations that provide high quality of service will facilitate the wide market penetration of electric vehicles. In this paper, the operation of a fast charging station is analyzed by employing a novel queuing model. The proposed analysis considers that the various electric vehicle models are classified by their battery size, and computes the customers' mean waiting time in the queue by taking into account the available charging spots, as well as the stochastic arrival process and the stochastic recharging needs of the various electric vehicle classes. Furthermore, a charging strategy is proposed according to which the drivers are motivated to limit their energy demands. The implementation of the proposed strategy allows the charging station to serve more customers without any increase in the queue waiting time. The high precision of the present analytical model is confirmed through simulations. Therefore, it may be utilized by existing fast charging station operators that need to provide high quality of service, or by future investors that need to design an efficient installation.