Systematic Planning of Electric Vehicle Battery Swapping and Charging Station Location and Driver Routing with Bi-Level Optimization

The rapid growth of electric vehicles (EVs) has significantly increased the demand for charging infrastructure, posing a challenge in balancing charging demand and infrastructure supply. The development of battery swapping and charging stations (BSCSs) is crucial for addressing these challenges and serves as a fundamental pillar for the sustainable advancement of EVs. This study develops a bi-level optimization model for the location and route planning of BSCSs. The upper-level model optimizes station locations to minimize total cost and service delay, while the lower-level model optimizes driver travel routes to minimize total time. An updated Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (UNSGA) is applied to enhance solution efficiency. The experimental results show that the bi-level model outperforms the single-level model, reducing total cost by 1.5% and travel time by 6.6%. Compared to other algorithms, the UNSGA achieves 9.43% and 8.23% lower costs than MOPSO and MOSA, respectively. Furthermore, BSCSs, despite 15.42% higher construction costs, reduce driver travel time by 22.43% and waiting time by 71.19%, highlighting their operational advantages. The bi-level optimization method provides more cost-effective decision support for EV infrastructure investors, enabling them to adapt to dynamic drivers’ needs and optimize resource allocation.