Page - 180 - in Emerging Technologies for Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

Energies 2016,9, 270 (EVs), as akindofnewenvironmentally-friendlymeansof transportation, are aneffectiveway to tackle theproblemsrelatedtoenvironmentpollutionandfossil resourceutilization[2]. Therefore, the Chinesegovernmenthasdevotedconsiderable resources topromote theadoptionofelectricvehicles, andhassetupatargetofputtingfivemillionEVsontheroadby2020[3].Meanwhile,asignificant amount of investment has beenmade to subsidizeEVmanufacturers andbuyers, build charging stationsandposts,andoffer taxbreaksandothernon-monetary incentives. Charginginfrastructure,astheenergyproviderofelectricvehicles, iscriticaltothedevelopmentof anelectricvehicle system.Theavailabilityofefficient, convenientandeconomicEVCSscouldenhance thewillingness tobuyofconsumersandpromote thedevelopmentof thesector. Lowavailabilityof charginginfrastructurecouldhinderEVadoption,whichcouldtheninturnreduce incentives to invest incharging infrastructuredevelopment [4]. EVCSsiting is thepreliminarystageofEVCSconstruction, andhasa significant impact on the servicequality andoperationefficiencyofEVCSsduring their whole life cycle. Therefore, it is essential toestablishaproper frameworktodetermine theoptimal sites forEVCSs. Sustainability in the scope of energy management aims to meet present demand without compromisingtheenergyutilizationbyfuturegenerations. Sustainabledevelopmentcanberealized byrenewableresources, cleanerproductionandmoreefficient technologies. The“sustainability” in energymanagement is described as a long-termdevelopment integrating threepillars: economic growth, socialdevelopmentandenvironmentprotection [5]. Topromote thesustainabledevelopment of the EV industry, optimal EVCS siting should be performed from a sustainability perspective. Moreover, concerning the diversity of advanced science and technical constraints, technology is another importantperspectivetodeterminetheoptimalsiteofEVCSs. Therefore, integratingtheissues of technology,anextendedconceptofsustainability isproposedtodeterminetheoptimalEVCSsite, whichhasnotbeenaddressed inpreviousstudies. In this study,extendedsustainability isemployed todetermine the initial evaluationcriteria foroptimalsitingofEVCSs,whichcovers fourperspectives, suchas“economy”,“society”,“environment”and“technology”.Onthisbasis, 13final sub-criteriaare determinedbyafuzzyDelphimethod(FDM)throughaseriesof intensivequestionnaires. ConsideringthatoptimalsitingofEVCSs includesmultiple factors,aMultipleCriteriaDecision Makingmodel isemployedtoevaluate theperformanceofallalternativesunderconflictingcriteria in this study. VlsekriterijumskaOptimizacijia IKompromisnoResenje (VIKOR) isa compensatory aggregationMCDMmethod,which has beenused to appraise performance inmanyfields [6–8]. VIKORhasasimpleandlogical computationprocedure thatsimultaneouslyconsiders thecloseness to positive ideal as well as negative ideal solutions [9]. Due to the increasing complexity of decision-making,moreandmorequalitative,uncertainandimprecise factorsare involvedinMCDM problems[10,11], andthusa fuzzyVIKORmethodisconstructedtodetermine the fuzzycompromise solutions formultiple criteria, which can efficiently grasp ambiguous information aswell as the essential fuzzinessofhuman judgment [12–14]. Moreover,Grey relationanalysis (GRA) isused to modify theconventionalaggregating functionof fuzzyVIKOR,whichcanbettermeasure thedistance betweenfuzzynumbersaswellasgivearankingorderofalternativeswithprecisenumbers [15–18]. Ontheotherhand, in theapplicationofVIKORforoptimalsitingofEVCSs,weightingdetermination turnsout tobecrucial for thefinal rankingofalternatives. Toobtainabetterweightsdetermining systemfor fuzzyVIKOR,acombinationweightssystembasedonsubjective judgmentandobjective informationare introduced in this study. Thesubjectiveweightsaredeterminedbyexperts’opinions, andtheobjectiveweightsareobtainedbytheShannonentropymethod. Therefore, inourresearch,a hybrid frameworkonthebasisofFDM,combinationweightsandfuzzyGRA-VIKORmethodswillbe employedtodetermine theoptimalsites forEVCSs. Theremainderof thispaper isorganizedas follows: areviewof the literaturerelatedto theEV industry,optimalEVCSsitedetermination,andthemaincontributionsof this researchcanbefound inSection2. InSection3, thebasic theoriesof relatedmethodsareelaborated. Section4presents the proposed framework foroptimal sitingof electricvehicle station. Theevaluation indexsystemfor 180