Impact of the distribution of charging and hydrogen refueling stations on their reachability for craft vehicles with a defined usage profile

This paper examines the impact of the distribution of charging and hydrogen refueling stations on their reachability for craft vehicles with a defined usage profile. A simulation-based methodology is presented for this purpose. The simulation models daily trips for craft vehicles, considering amongst others the company location, the client stops, the operating radius and the mean daily driving distance. Based on these inputs, the number of charging or refueling opportunities for typical daily trips of the craft vehicle is calculated. To investigate the impact of locations on the frequency of encountering energy provisions, simulations are conducted in three regions: Ulm (urban), Stuttgart (metropolitan), and Munderkingen (rural). Furthermore, the impact of different locations within the same infrastructural area is examined by assessing multiple company locations in Ulm. The findings indicate that the urban zone of Ulm is characterized by a highly dense electric fast charging infrastructure within the city limits. The results show that location variations within an infrastructural homogenous area do not play a decisive role, much more important is the superordinate infrastructure. However, the surrounding areas exhibit a notable deficiency in the availability of fast charging points. The metropolitan area of Stuttgart has a dense network of electric charging stations in and around the city. In contrast, the rural area of Munderkingen has a very limited number of fast charging stations. In addition, a parameter variation is carried out within this study. This quantifies the influence of the parameters that specify the usage profile of the vehicles with regard to the local infrastructure. The hydrogen refueling station infrastructure is also being investigated. The contribution of two possible future hydrogen refueling stations to the supply of hydrogen-powered craft vehicles in Ulm is being examined.