Infrastructure development for alternative-fuel vehicles on a traffic network

Abstract

Reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ground transportation is increasingly becoming one of the most important issues for automobile manufacturers to achieve environmental sustainability in the transportation sector. As a result, recent research has paid considerable attention to the use of alternative-fuel vehicles (AFVs) that may help reduce GHG emissions. However, due to the lack of an initial infrastructure, which would include alternative-fuel refueling stations, the use of AFVs is still in their early stages. In order to commercialize AFVs in a given region, it is necessary to set up an initial set of refueling stations on the region's road network. In this paper, we develop a mathematical model to determine optimal locations for a pre-determined number of refueling stations whose objective is to maximize the traffic flows covered on a tree network, which is a common structure of toll roads in many states. After collecting the necessary origin/destination traffic flow data, the model is applied to the Pennsylvania Turnpike network.