Study on a Multi-Objective Facility Location Problem for Electric Vehicle Battery Swapping Stands

Recently, battery swapping has gained attention as a method for replenishing energy in Electric Vehicles (EVs). It is a new technology that replaces the discharged batteries with charged ones at swap stations and can overcome the problem of the long charging times for EVs. However, in order to promote the spread of EVs that use the battery swapping method, there are many issues such as the development of battery technology, the regulation of battery standards, and securing swapping facilities. In particular, almost no research has been done on the locations for battery swapping facilities in comparison to those for the existing battery charging method, and it will be an important research theme in the future. Furthermore, accompanying the spread of EVs, it is expected that the number of gas stations, which are indispensable for gasoline vehicles, will continue to decrease. This invites the problem of loss of economic viability in the local community. In order to cope with the above problem, this paper proposes a multi-objective facility location model that considers existing gas stations as candidate sites for EV battery swapping facilities. For this purpose, the facility location problem is formulated as a multi objective optimization problem that simultaneously considers the installation cost and the economic viability of the local community, and provides an effective solution. Furthermore, its effectiveness as a support model for decision-making in multi-objective facility location problems is verified through numerical experiments. © 2024 Japan Industrial Management Association. All rights reserved.