Sustainable urban charging infrastructure: The role of electric bus charging stations in alleviating charging demand and improving charging accessibility

Journal article, 2025

Adequate charging infrastructure is crucial for increasing the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). Utilizing underused electric bus charging stations (EBCSs) presents a viable solution to enhance charging opportunities for private EVs. This paper investigates the potential of an EBCS sharing system for private EVs in urban areas, employing a data-informed multi-agent simulation model supported by large-scale real-world vehicle travel data extracted from license plate recognition (LPR) systems. A case study of Hangzhou, China, is conducted to test the proposed model. The findings reveal that allocating 6 % of EBCS charging piles can fully satisfy demand within a 2 km radius. EBCSs can fulfill 51.0 % of the total demand when the acceptable detour distance is expanded to 8 km. Meanwhile, the opening of EBCSs can enhance the accessibility of charging infrastructure for EV users by 124.5 %, significantly increasing their charging opportunities. The paper also examines the changes in private EV charging demand and the potential impact of the EBCS sharing system under various strategies, including different opening times, the opening ratio of charging piles, and increasing numbers of EVs in future years. These findings highlight the potential of EBCSs in meeting private EV charging demands and enhancing urban charging infrastructure accessibility, offering valuable insights for policymaking and infrastructure optimization.