Centre of gravity method for locating an electric charging station : an initial approach for Viana do Castelo

Abstract

Due to concerns about reducing CO2 emissions, the number of electric cars has increased in recent years, which promotes the need to increase the number of charging stations, especially in cities. This case study aims to identify the best point for the installation of a new electric charging station in the municipality of Viana do Castelo, Portugal. The methodology used is the centre of gravity method, using as data the number of charging stations available in the city. The aim is to find a central location that minimises the distance between the new charging station and the existing ones. In this work, a first approach was made by analysing all existing charging stations, assuming the same weight in the network, disregarding he number of chargers in each station and the importance of the facilities available nearby. The results were promising and showed that the new location point was in the city centre, near a high school.