Abstract: With the introduction of alternative fuel vehicles into the transportation system, the refueling station location research has been touted in the literature. The flow refueling location problem (FRLP) locates a given number of stations in order to maximize the flow volume that can be accommodated in a road network respecting the range limitations of the vehicles. The topic of this talk is the hybrid charging station location problem (HCSLP) as an extension of the FRLP. Beside electric vehicles, we also consider the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles when locating the stations. Our objective is to maximize the vehicle-miles-traveled using electricity and thereby minimize the total cost of transportation under the existing cost structure between electricity and gasoline. This is also indirectly equivalent to maximizing the environmental benefits. We present an arc-cover formulation and a Benders decomposition algorithm as exact solution methodologies. The decomposition algorithm is accelerated using multicut and Pareto-optimal cut generation schemes. The structure of the formulation allows us to construct the subproblem solutions, dual solutions and Pareto-optimal cuts as closed form expressions without having to solve any linear programs. This increases the efficiency of the decomposition algorithm by orders of magnitude and the results of the computational studies show that the proposed algorithm both accelerates the solution process and effectively handles instances of realistic size.

Bio: Okan Arslan is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Industrial Engineering, Bilkent University. He received an M.S. degree in Operations Research from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology and a B.S. degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Turkish Air Force Academy. Okan works as an operations research analyst at the Turkish Air Force and teaches as a part-time instructor at Bilkent University. His research interest lies broadly in the design and management of large-scale networks with particular emphasis on transportation and energy.

Contact: Barış Balcıoğlu