Analysis of activity duration-related charging behavioral responses of electric vehicle travelers to charging services

Electric vehicles (EVs) have drawn much attention in recent years due to the advantage of zero on-road carbon emission. The government subsidies and rapid development of electricity charging technologies promote the roll-out of EVs. The boost of EVs brings challenges to the deployment of EV charging services. Given that travelers may need to charge their EVs while conducting out-of-home activities, this study analyzes the activity duration-related charging behavioral responses of private EV travelers to charging services in an equilibrium model. The charging services concern the operating policies related to the spatial allocation of charging opportunities and charging pricing. Considering the trade-offs between travel and activity duration-related charging choices, a boundedly rational dynamic user equilibrium (BR-DUE) model is proposed to evaluate the two operating policies. The case study of the Eindhoven network demonstrates that the operating policies, if appropriately set up, can improve the accessibility to charging services with improved charging service rate and decreased queuing time.