Transportation Research Part E 45 (2009) 821829

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Transportation Research Part E

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tre

Locating road-vehicle refueling stations

Ying-Wei Wang *, Chuah-Chih Lin
Department of Marketing and Logistics Management, School of Service Management, National Penghu University, 300 Liu-Ho Road, Magong, Penghu, Taiwan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study follows the concept of set cover for proposing a refueling-station-location model
Received 1 September 2008 using a mixed integer programming method, based on vehicle-routing logics. Its solution
Received in revised form 18 January 2009 uses only the easy-obtain data of the origin-destination distance matrix. A case study that
Accepted 24 March 2009
focuses on the siting of refueling stations for achieving multiple origin-destination intercity
travel via electric vehicles on Taiwan demonstrates the applicability of the model. Sensitiv-
ity analysis shows that greater vehicle range will result in a lower number of refueling sta-
tions that need to be sited. Range is crucial in reducing the facility-location costs, and
Keywords:
Refueling station
therefore is an important issue in the development of alternative-fuel-vehicle technology.
Alternative-fuel vehicles 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Facility location
Set cover
Mixed integer programming

1. Introduction

On promising approach to cut back energy use and decrease the environmental impacts of carbon-based vehicle emis-
sions is the adoption and use of alternative-fuel vehicles (AFV), such as ones powered by electricity (Haller et al., 2007;
Yeh, 2007). Historically, however, six major barriers to AFV success have arisen: limited numbers of refueling stations, high
refueling costs, onboard fuel-storage issues (i.e., limited range), safety and liability concerns, improvements in the compe-
tition (i.e., more efcient combustion engines), and high initial costs for consumers (Romm, 2006). In view of these factors,
the establishment of an infrastructure to promote the use of AFV is a pressing concern. For example, the range of capital costs
for an infrastructure serving 1.41 million H2 fuel-cell cars is about US$440870 million, or US$310620/car, which is often
cited as a serious impediment to the use of hydrogen in vehicles (Ogden, 1999). Therefore, it is important to develop methods
to minimize the costs of developing an alternative-fuel refueling infrastructure. Demand in a network is often of two types,
namely passing ows and consumers centered in residential areas, aggregated as nodes (Hodgson and Rosing, 1992; Hodg-
son, 1990; Goodchild and Noronha, 1987). In urban or intra-city travels, ow-type and xed-point demand exist simulta-
neously, and it is not easy to distinguish them. However, when the travel distance is extended signicantly, such as for
intercity journeys, ow-type demand becomes more obvious. In order to foster the use of AVF, especially in the early stage
of their introduction both types of demand should be considered when choosing the sites for refueling stations (Melaina,
2003).
In lling or refueling-station location planning, the established models can be roughly divided into three categories. The
rst one is based on solutions to the Maximum Covering Location problem (Church and ReVelle, 1974). The typical ow
capturing locationallocation problem formulated by Hodgson (1990) and Berman et al. (1992) was to capture most of
the ow-type demand (short distance trips via one-stop refueling) on the paths in a given number of stations being sited
(due to budget restrictions). Kuby and Lim (2005) extended this to the ow refueling location problem by considering

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 6 9264115x5513; fax: +886 6 9260373.

E-mail address: ywwang@npu.edu.tw (Y.-W. Wang).

1366-5545/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tre.2009.03.002
822 Y.-W. Wang, C.-C. Lin / Transportation Research Part E 45 (2009) 821829

the limited range of alternative-fuel vehicles (AFV) for undertaking long-distance trips via multi-stop refueling. The OD
ow data was used to prevent double-counting of ows captured by more than one facility along the paths by the use of
link ow data, as in the rst model for gas station siting proposed by Goodchild and Noronha (1987). However, such data
is often difcult to obtain in practical applications (Lin et al., 2008; Averbakh and Berman, 1996), although it can be esti-
mated by trafc assignment models, such as Dials algorithm (1971).
The second category of models is based on solutions to the set covering problem (Toregas et al., 1971). The rst recrea-
tion-oriented facility location model proposed by Wang (2007) was intended to economically site the slow recharging sta-
tions at scenic spots in order to conveniently serve all demand from single OD journeys (via multi-stop refueling), with
drivers using electric scooters at the destination area. Later, Wang (2008) formulated the battery-exchange-station location
problem to extend his earlier model for accommodating multiple OD trips, but the length of a trip was also within the vehi-
cle range. The purpose of the proposed models is to optimally site the refueling stations to cover overall passing ows on the
paths of interest, based on the data of the distance matrix of OD pairs, not the OD ow data. In terms of service, to ensure
the completion of long-distance trips for road users is essential, along the minimum level of service, in order to foster or pro-
mote the use of alternative-fuel vehicles. Therefore, Wangs models were based on the assumption of sufcient budget for
station development, and the passing ows all having equal weight.
The third category of models is based on solutions to the maximum covering/shortest path problem (MCSPP), as formu-
lated by Current et al. (1985). Bapna et al. (2002) extended the MCSPP to accommodate multiple sources and destinations to
site the unleaded gas stations for serving short-distance journeys within cities, and making long-distance travel possible
among large, populated cities. However, two factors limit its applicability. One is the roundabout paths obtained from the
spanning subgraph due to the weights on the objectives. The other is the maximum-cover objective maximizes the popula-
tion along the enable arcs, not the volume of OD ows that can refuel along their shortest path (Kuby and Lim, 2005).
Different to the conventional method of considering facility location, Lin et al. (2008) transformed the hydrogen station
siting problem to a transportation one, and formulated it as a mixed integer program with the objective of minimizing the
total time for fuel-travel-back (from the possible origin of the refueling trips to the nearest station). The advantages of this
method are that the fuel accessibility to the motorist can be measured appropriately by the average refueling travel time
using the data of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) or fuel consumptions (not the OD data), and the origins of the refueling trips
can be any point on the network (not only the home or workplace). Driven by the notion that where you drive more is
where you more likely need refueling, the magnitude of refueling-demand points on the network were quantied as ratios
or probabilities based on the result of VMT allocated to the road network. Obviously, the approach for VMT assignment had
an important role in determining the spatial distribution of demand, and thus the nal station siting. From a macroscopic
viewpoint, the spatial distribution of VMT is a surrogate to simulate the actual trafc ows of the OD pairs. However, be-
cause the model does not consider the critical factor of vehicle range to determine the station locations, there are likely to
be parts of the actual ow that can not be captured or completed in spite of the increased number of stations. Conceptually,
in some trafc ows, especially for long-distance (intercity) journeys, the refueling demands are driven by the notion of the
more distance you drive, the more likely you need refueling, not on the previously expressed idea, which stressed place over
distance.
Based on the vehicle refueling logics, this paper develops a ow-based set covering model using the data of the distance
matrix of OD pairs to relax the restriction of the trip length in Wangs model (2008). Instead of siting central facilities to
serve demand at xed points, the model focuses on facility siting to cover the passing ows along the shortest (or most rea-
sonable) paths of interest. Station-siting is then treated as a set covering problem, where all ow-refueling demand is along
the paths of interest to be covered by the sited stations within the specic coverage distance (not over the range of the vehi-
cle), and the objective is to minimize the total costs of locating the stations.
In the next section, we provide a brief description of the alternative-fuel vehicles refueling logics as a background to
establishing the model. Section 3 highlights contributions in model formulations which focus on the fuel inventory involved
in locating a station for intercity OD round-trips. Section 4 demonstrates the applicability of the proposed model using a
real-life case study, while Section 5 presents the conclusions of this work.

2. Vehicle refueling logics

Vehicle range is the key factor for determining the locations and number of refueling stations for completing a journey,
especially a long-distance one. A simple example in Fig. 1 illustrates the spatial characteristics of vehicle refueling, showing
the shortest path of 220 km between O and D, with three nodes. Assuming that a vehicles range is 100 km, the vehicle can

2 60
60 60 D
40 3
O 1
Destination
Origin
Fig. 1. An OD path with three nodes.
 Y.-W. Wang, C.-C. Lin / Transportation Research Part E 45 (2009) 821829 823

reach node 2 via node 1 without refueling along the way. Because the vehicle arriving at node 1 has enough fuel remaining
for just 60 km, it would run out of fuel before it arrives at node 2. A station must thus be located at node 2 to refuel the vehi-
cle for another 100 km. When the vehicle arrives at node 3 from node 2, the remaining fuel is only enough for 40 km, and so
it cannot continue to the nal destination. Therefore, another station must be located at node 3 to refuel the vehicle so as to
extend the travel distance at least 20 km to reach the destination. Therefore, two stations need to be sited, one at node 2 and
the other at node 3, to refuel the vehicle for the complete journey.
From this simple example the refueling logics of the vehicle can be obtained. We use a discrete network N(V, A) to rep-
resent the nodes and arcs on the arterial road network, where V is the set of the vertices or nodes, and A is the set of the arcs
or links on the network. Suppose that nodes i, j, and k are on a path (i ? j ? k), then the vehicles refueling logics can be
described in the following statements.

(a) Assuming that a vehicle m at node i can arrive at node j, this means that its remaining fuel must sufciently cover the
distance between nodes i and j. If this is insufcient, the vehicle must be refueled at node i, and thus a station must be
located at this point. This can be formulated as Bim + Rim P dij, where Bim is the remaining amount of fuel at site i for a
vehicle m, Rim is the refueling amount of fuel at site i for a vehicle m, and dij is the distance between nodes i and j,
which is equivalent to a mount of fuel consumption.
(b) The remaining fuel at node j is determined by the remaining fuel plus the refuel at the prior node i, minus the fuel
consumption for the distance traveled between them. This can be represented as Bjm = (Bim + Rim)  dij.
(c) If the vehicle must be refueled at node i, the fuel being replenished is not greater than the amount of fuel consumed at
this point. That is, the refueling amount of fuel (Rim) is equal to or less than the refueling capacity (b) minus the
remaining amount of fuel (Bim), which can be described as Rim 6 b  Bim.

In effect, in logic (b) when Bjm is not less than zero (Bjm P 0), it means that the vehicle arrives at a site with some fuel
remaining (or is just running out of fuel). That is, the meaning of the formula Bjm P 0 is the same as the mathematical expres-
sion of logic (a). It can thus be used to substitute the expression of logic (a) to reduce the number of constraints in the model
and to reduce the solution time.

3. Model of a refueling-station location

Vehicle refueling stations can be divided into two categories: fast and slow. A fast refueling station can rell the AFV
quickly for example, a typical refueling time of less than ve minutes for a fast-ll natural-gas station (Yeh, 2007). Con-
versely, a slow-refueling station needs a longer time to rell the AFV for example, six to eight hours to fully charge a
lead-acid battery from empty to full. However, refuel time is a critical factor that inuences public acceptance of AFVs,
and obviously fast refueling stations for daily travel are more popular than slow ones, although the latter do serve a market,
such as providing overnight refueling for business eets and refueling at home for individuals. In this study we focus on the
model formulation for the location of fast-refueling-stations, based on the vehicles refueling logics to economically site the
stations in order to serve limited-range AFVs engaged in multiple OD shortest-path trips on arterial roads.
To formulate the model, many assumptions are made, including multiple OD trips along the shortest paths, a single type
of the AFV with a constant range, uncapacitated stations, a linear relationship between the fuel consumption or refueling and
driving distance, and each AFV being full of fuel at the point of origin.
The choice modeling problem confronting an AFV is formulated as:
X
Minimize ci X i 1
i2N

Subject to
Bim  0 8i 2 N; 8m 2 M; 2
Bim Bjm Rjm  dji  djim 8ji 2 A; 8m 2 M; 3
Rim  b  Bim 8i 2 N; 8m 2 M; 4
Rim Y im  b  Aim 8i 2 N; 8m 2 M; 5
X
Y im  L  X i 8i 2 N; 6
m2M

Y im 2 f0; 1g 8i 2 N; 8m 2 M; 7
X i 2 f0; 1g 8i 2 N; 8
Aim  0; Rim  0; 8i 2 N; 8m 2 M; 9
where N is the set of all nodes (potential station locations); A is the set of all arcs; M is the set of AFVs traveling along paths; ci
is the cost of locating a station at node i; L is a large positive integer; dijm is equal to 1 if arc ij is on a path used by an AFV m,
otherwise dijm = 0; Xi (decision variables) is equal to 1 if we locate a station at node i, otherwise Xi = 0; Yim (decision variables)
is equal to 1 if an AFV m is refueled at node i on a path, otherwise Yim = 0; Aim (decision variables) is an adjustment coefcient
824 Y.-W. Wang, C.-C. Lin / Transportation Research Part E 45 (2009) 821829

for an AFV m being refueled at node i on a path. The other symbols, Rim (decision variables), bim (decision variables), b, and dij,
are described in the previous section.
The objective is to minimize the cost of refueling stations that have different location costs. Constraint (2) from the vehi-
cles refueling logic (a) means that the amount of fuel (the remaining fuel plus the replenishing fuel) carried on an AFV at a
site must be greater than or equal to the fuel consumed during the distance traveled to the next site. In other words, when
the vehicle arrives at a site, its remaining fuel is greater than or equal to zero, and thus the mathematical expression in logic
(a) can be substituted by Bim P 0 to reduce both the number of constraints in the model and the solution time. Constraint (3)
from the vehicles refueling logic (b) shows that the remaining fuel at a station equals the remaining fuel plus the refueling at
the prior station minus the distance (a fuel consumption) between them. Constraints (4) and (5) are derived from the vehi-
cles refueling logic (c). Constraint (4) shows the amount of refueling at a station is less than or equal to refueling capacity (b)
minus the remaining fuel at the station. In effect, constraints (4) and (5) can be reformulated as Yim  bAim 6 b  Bim, which
expediently uses Aim to calibrate the fuel replenished at a site. Nevertheless, the correct formula should be
Yim  b  k 6 b  Bim, where k is a refueling coefcient based on the capacity of the fuel tank at each stop, and this is non-
linear, which at present it is difcult to resolve. Consequently, a linear formula with an adjustment coefcient is introduced.
Constraint (5) represents the fuel replenished at a refueling station and is equivalent to the refueling capacity (b) minus the
adjustment coefcient used to calibrate the fuel replenished at each node. Constraint (6) ensures that the capacity of a sta-
tion is unlimited. Constraints (7) and (8) dene Yim and Xi as 0 or 1 integrals. Constraint (9) is the values of Aim and Rim, all
must not be less than zero.
In addition, the vehicles refueling logics (b) and (c) were successfully applied to formulate a capacitated battery-ex-
change station location model (Wang, 2008) for tourist transport with electric scooters. In that model, the farthest trips dis-
tance must be within the range of the electric scooter. If so, logic (a) of the vehicles refueling can be ensured, and thus the
problem of having insufcient fuel to reach the next site does not occur during the travel. Therefore, Wangs model is suit-
able for locating the recharging stations serving a short-distance travel system with a light electric vehicle.

4. Case study

Taiwan comprises an area of 36,188 km2 and had a population of 22.9 million in the year 2008 (DHR, 2008). There were
20.7 million registered vehicles in January 2008 (DOS, 2008), accounting for approximately 14% of all air pollution (such as
CO2) (BOE, 2008). About one in two people owns a scooter, with an average of 386 scooters per km2 the highest density in
the world (Wang, 2007). Taiwan was the rst government (in 1998) to promote electric motorcycles or scooters to the public
via practical incentives and regulations to reduce the air pollution derived from vehicle trafc in metropolitan areas.
Although the subsidy for electric scooters ceased in 2002, government support to research, develop, and market alterna-
tive-fuel vehicles is still ongoing (Wang, 2007). The case of Taiwans refueling-station planning is thus used to demonstrate
the applicability of the model developed in this work. The type of refueling stations being sited are used to serve battery
electric vehicles, with the main aim to economically site enough stations to achieve intercity travel via AFVs. In addition,
with regard to the current limits of AFV capabilities/technologies, in practice it is important to identify a variety of locations
and numbers of refueling stations in order to best serve different vehicle ranges.
The districts in the area include two provinces and municipalities (jurisdictions under central governments), 18 counties
and ve cities (jurisdictions under municipal governments). The 22 districts on the island (namely 15 counties, ve cities,
and two municipalities) are the main origins and destinations of intercity trips, and the 22 centers of the local or central gov-
ernments are used as the points of origins in this study. In addition, 16 important intersections of arterial roads and 13 addi-
tional sites are added to establish an entire highway network connecting the 22 district centers, as shown in Fig. 2, based on
the consideration of a possible minimum range of an AFV of 50 km. The total number of possible sites for locating the sta-
tions is 51. Each point of origin can match a destination to form a return trip (OD pair), and the total number of the return
trips in the network is 1100 (22  [51  1]). Because a number of alternative paths for each OD trip can be used, it is dif-
cult to identify the practical routes or paths being traveled by the eld survey, and so this study assumes that an AFV travels
on the shortest path from a point of origin to a destination and returns to the original point along the same route. The Floyd
algorithm (Floyd, 1962; Daskin, 1995) was used effectively to obtain the overall shortest paths for 1100 OD trips.

4.1. Solutions

Fast-refueling stations are to be sited in the area. Suppose that an electric vehicle is refueled fully at the point of origin,
and the refueling occurs at home using an onboard refueler. Thus, the point of origin for departure does not need to be a
station.
Because set covering problems belong to the class of NP-complete combinatorial optimization problems (Garey and
Johnson, 1979), exact solution techniques, such as branch and bound, may degenerate to complete enumeration
(Chaovalitwongse et al., 2007). For that reason, exact approaches limit us in solving only moderately sized problems owing
to the exponential increase in CPU time when the size of a problem increases (Pardalos et al., 1995; Arostegui et al., 2006).
Because the location model uses a mixed integer program for the large-scale vehicle-refueling-routing case, it is not easy to
resolve using the polynomial-time algorithms. In effect, constraint (6) represents an uncapacitated station, and can be
 Y.-W. Wang, C.-C. Lin / Transportation Research Part E 45 (2009) 821829 825

N : length of a highways
: Center of districts
section Taipei Keelung
: Intersections Keelung Sinjhuang 6 25 5 1312 Ruibin
Sinjhuang Taipei Ruibin Taoyuan 21 3 8 Badu 24
: Connecting sites Taoyuan Badu Fulong 42 Banciao 38 34 38 Fulong
Pinglin 6 Toucheng
Banciao Pinglin Jhubei Jiaosi 4 12
Jhubei Jiaosi Toucheng Hsinchu 5 Yilan 4 Gongguan
Hsinchu Yilan Gongguan 29 10
Houlong 12 Jianshan Loudong 14 17 Su-ao
Houlong Jianshan Loudong 20 26
Su-ao 2 Miaoli
Miaoli 50 Nan-ao
Nan-ao 38 27
Heping
Chingshuei 17 Fongyuan 28
Chingshuei Heping
Fongyuan 29 12
Taichung 20 Sincheng
Taichung Sincheng Changhua 18 20
Changhua Hualien
Chaotun Hualien 21 Chaotun
49 Nantou 50
Nantou 41
Douliou Foungbin
Douliou Foungbin 23
Taibao 14 36
Taibao Chiayi
Chiayi 23
Sinying
Changbin
Sinying
Changbin 28
50
Chenggong 18 Chenggong
Tainan Donghe
Tainan Donghe 33
39
Fongshan 15 Taitung
Fongshan Taitung 7 Pingtung Chihpen
Kaohsiung Chihpen Kaohsiung 15
Pingtung 21 18 45 45
Linyuan Linyuan
26
Fangliao Dawu Fangliao 19 6 Dawu
32 Daren
Daren
Feuggang Feuggang
50
32
Kenting Kenting 8
Eluanbi Eluanbi

(a) (b)
Fig. 2. Possible locations to site the fast-refueling stations. (a) Locations on the map and (b) a network representation.

rewritten as Y im  X i 8i 2 N; 8m 2 M. The formula means that if a vehicle m refuels at a site i (Yim = 1), one station should be
located at the point (Xi = 1), as Yim and Xi are all 01 integrals. Conversely, if the vehicle does not refuel at the site (Yim = 0),
the location is not necessary (Xi = 0) owing to the objective of a minimal locating cost. Therefore, the renewed inequalities
can be further reduced to the equalities Y im X i 8i 2 N; 8m 2 M. The new formula can greatly reduce the resolution time
using the polynomial algorithms (i.e., it can make the exact approaches workable) in order to obtain optimal solutions.
On the assumption that the locating costs at each site are equal, and the parameters are the distances between links (as
shown in Fig. 2), the vehicles ranges (50, 150, 250, and 350 km), refueling capacity b (50, 150, 250, and 350 km), and full
refueling at the point of origin, solutions can be generated (Fig. 3) using ILOGs branch and bound algorithm (ILOG, 2005).
With the range of 50 km, the number of refueling stations being sited is 42, accounting for a high ratio of 85.35% (42/51),
all possible candidates except for some connecting points. When the range of 350 is employed, the total number of stations
reduces signicantly to six, with a ratio of 11.76% (6/51). Vehicle range is thus crucial for determining the appropriate loca-
tions and number of refueling stations. Fig. 4 shows the sensitivity analysis of the number of refueling stations to the range of
the vehicles. In this gure, when the range increases in the beginning, the number of stations being sited reduces greatly, but
when the range is more than 150 km, the reduction tends to slow down. A range of 150 km is thus the critical point for locat-
ing the stations economically.
Fig. 5 shows the changes in fuel being carried during travel for some OD trips at the range of 150 km, and all the return
trips can be achieved via refueling stations. A return trip of 284 km from Miaoli County to Chiayi City along the shortest path
38 12 20 49 23 23 49 20 12 38
Miaoli ! Fongyuan ! Taichung ! Changhua ! Douliou ! Chiayi ! Douliou ! Changhua ! Taichung ! Fongyuan ! Miaoli
is used to demonstrate the achievement of the journey, using the stations at Taichung and Chiayi. An electric vehicle with
sufcient fuel for 150 km departs from Miaoli. It can travel through Fongyuan to Taichung without refueling, and its remain-
ing fuel is sufcient for 100 km (150  38  12). Although the fuel is sufcient for reaching the destination, Chiayi, it refuels
at Taichung for a full capability of 150 km. When it arrives at the destination, via Changhua and Douliou, its remaining fuel is
enough for 58 km (150  20  49  23), but this is insufcient to return to the point of origin. The vehicle therefore refuels at
Chiayi for a total capability of 142 km, and then travels through Douliou, Changhua, Taichung, and Fongyuan to Miaoli, with
just enough fuel. In fact, the journey can be achieved via just one stop for refueling, at Chiayi. For example, it can travel
through Fongyuan, Taichung, Changyuan, and Douliou to Chiayi without refueling, but its remaining fuel is enough for only
8 km (150  38  12  20  49  23). Because the fuel is insufcient to return to the point of origin, the vehicle refuels at
Chiayi for its full range of 150 km. With the refueling, the vehicle can return then directly to Miaoli along the same path.
However, in this case, two stops for refueling to complete the long-distance journey may be more acceptable in terms of
practical travel than making only one stop.
826 Y.-W. Wang, C.-C. Lin / Transportation Research Part E 45 (2009) 821829

R: the location of a station

Keelung
R
Taipei R
Taoyuan R
R
Taipei R Keelung
R R R
R
Taoyuan
Hsinchu R
R
Yilan R
R
R
Hsinchu Yilan R
R R R
R Miaoli R Miaoli
R R
R R
R Taichung R
R R Taichung
R Hualien R
R Hualien
R R
R
R
R
Chiayi R
Chiayi
R

R
R R
Tainan R
Tainan R

R Pingtung R R Taitung Pingtung Taitung

R
Kaohsiung Kaohsiung
R
R R R
R R
R

R
R
Range: 50 km; number of stations: 42 Range: 150 km; number of stations: 14

Keelung Keelung
Taipei Taipei
Taoyuan Taoyuan
R R
Hsinchu R Hsinchu
Yilan Yilan
R R
R
Miaoli Miaoli
R
R
Taichung Taichung
Hualien Hualien

R R

Chiayi Chiayi
R

Tainan Tainan R

Pingtung R Taitung Pingtung Taitung

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung
R
R

Range: 250 km; number of stations: 8 Range: 350 km; number of stations: 6

Fig. 3. Distributions of locations and numbers of fast-refueling stations for different vehicle ranges.

In Fig. 5, with regard to the value of A for the return trip from Miaoli to Chiayi, when the vehicle arrives at Taichung with it
has enough remaining fuel for another 100 km, and this 100 km, subtracted from possible maximal refueling for 150 km, ob-
tains the true refueling value of 50 km (150  100). At the other stop at Chiayi, its A value is 66 km, denoting a practical refu-
eling value of 84 km (150  66). Thus, its fuel for a range of 142 km is sufcient for the vehicle to return to its point of origin,
Miaoli. In fact, the value of A is in the range of 5866 km, denoting a possible refueling value of 8492 km. The vehicle, with
fuel for a range of 142 (58 + 84)150 (58 + 92) km, can thus return to the point of origin. To satisfy constraint (5), the highest
value of A is selected from the possible range in the model solution. In addition, for the trips from Fongyuan or Taichung to
Chiayi, one-stop refueling at Chiayi can ensure the completion of the journey, and the corresponding values of A are 69 and
116, respectively. With the refueling for 81 and 34 km, the total fuel for 127 (46 + 81) and 92 (58 + 34) km can complete the
journey.
When different location costs at each site are calculated, the locations and numbers of refueling stations change. For
example, with the range of 350 km and the same location cost at each site, six sites at Taoyuan, Jianshan, Douliou, Fangliao,
Donghe, and Heping have stations. If double the locating cost at these six sites is calculated, there are still six locations, but
they are at other sites (Hsinchu, Chiayi, Feuggang, Daren, Foungbin, and Su-ao). Because the models objective is to minimize
the total cost, the shift from high- to low-cost locations is necessary. In addition, this change shows that the optimal loca-
tions of refueling stations at a range are not unique, and there are combinations of locations that simultaneously ensure that
all journeys are achieved in a given range.
 Y.-W. Wang, C.-C. Lin / Transportation Research Part E 45 (2009) 821829 827

50

40

Number of refueling stations

30

20

10

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Range

Fig. 4. Sensitivity analysis of number of refueling stations to the range.

160

Miaoli to Chiayi
140 Fongyuan to Chiayi
66
Taichung to Chiayi
120 100

100
Fuel being carried

80

116
60
69
40

20

Miaoli Fongyuan Taichung Changhua Dauliou Chiayi Dauliou2 Changhua2 Taichung2 Fongyuan2 Miaoli2

Location

Fig. 5. Changes of fuel being carried during the travel (parts of the OD trips).

Several types of fast-refueling stations, and their refueling coefcient (a ratio of refueling to the capacity (b)), may be dif-
ferent. Fig. 6 shows the sensitivity analysis of the number of stations being sited to the refueling coefcient under the range
of 100 km. When the refueling coefcient is 50%, the total number of stations increases to 25. That is, another four stations
will be added. With the refueling volumes of 60% and 70%, two stations and one additional station need to be sited, respec-
tively. However, when the refueling volume is more than 70%, the total number of stations remains at 21. Thus, the refueling
volume of 70% is a critical threshold in the development of refueling capacities/technologies to reduce the amount of stations
required.
828 Y.-W. Wang, C.-C. Lin / Transportation Research Part E 45 (2009) 821829

22

Range : 125 km
Range : 150 km

Number of refueling stations

20

18

16

14

12
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1

Refueling coefficient

Fig. 6. Sensitivity analysis of number of refueling stations to refueling capacity.

From the above descriptions, the following observations can be made.

1. To achieve 1100 return trips that depart from the local or central government centers, the optimal number of refueling
stations is in the range of 425, depending on the vehicle range being within 50350 km. Vehicle range is thus crucial for
determining the location and number of refueling stations, with 150 km as the critical point in vehicle technology/capa-
bility development in order to reduce the number of sites. In addition, a vehicles refueling capacity is also a factor that
inuences the number and location of the stations, and a capacity of 70% is the critical point for reducing the former.
2. The adjustment coefcient (A) can ensure that a vehicles refueling at each stop does not exceed the capacity of the fuel
tank and that there is sufcient fuel to reach the next station. The maximal value will be selected in the possible range
owing to constraint (5). In effect, the model solution calls for the vehicle to be refueled at each station, whether or not the
fuel is sufcient to reach the next one. However, such multiple-stop refueling for a long-distance journey may be more
realistic in terms of the travelers practical behavior, because the number is set very low (e.g. only two stations for a
return trip of 284 km at a given range of 150 km).
3. With the same location costs for each site, the optimal solution for locating the refueling station at a given range is not
unique, and there are combinations of locations to ensure that the journeys are completed via the stations. In practical
application, these solutions/combinations can be used by the planner or decision-maker along with other criteria, such
as the coverage, to determine the stations locations. In addition, when the location cost is different for each site, the loca-
tions and number of refueling stations will change. In general, the locations move from higher to lower cost sites owing to
the objective of minimizing cost.

5. Conclusions

Siting sufcient refueling stations along intercity highways is necessary to ensure the completion of the long-distance
travel in order to foster the use of alternative-fuel vehicles, especially during the early stages of low demand. This study fol-
lows the concept of set cover to formulate an uncapacitated refueling-station-location model named the ow-based set
covering location model, using a mixed integer programming method, based on vehicle-routing logics. The contributions
of the paper to the literature are to relax the constraint of trip length (under the vehicle range) in Wangs model (2008)
in order to consider the refueling requirements of long-distance (intercity) journeys. Moreover, because the proposed model
is based on vehicle-routing logics, i.e., the more distance you drive, the more likely you need refueling, only the OD distance
matrix, which is easy to obtain, is needed to solve the problem. This method can thus avoid the difculty of obtaining the O
D ow data that is necessary for the ow capturing or refueling location models (Hodgson, 1990; Berman et al., 1992; Kuby
and Lim, 2005), and the complicated estimation of spatial distribution of vehicle miles traveled needed for the fuel-travel-
back model (Lin et al., 2008). In addition, there is no additional preprocessing for model solutions, as in, for example, the
algorithm developed to search for the feasible combination of refueling locations as an input in the ow refueling location
model (Kuby and Lim, 2005).
On limitation of the proposed model is that it was based on the assumptions of a sufcient budget for station deployment
and that the passing ows on each route have equal weight. In reality, the nancial and other resources are often limited or
 Y.-W. Wang, C.-C. Lin / Transportation Research Part E 45 (2009) 821829 829

insufcient, and the trafc volume on each path is different, and these are the reasons why the maximum-covering based
models were developed. However, we must emphasize that although journeys along intercity highways are not so common
for individuals, it is still necessary to ensure the completion of such trips to ensure consumer condence in alternative-fuel
vehicles (Melaina, 2003).
Sensitivity analysis shows that the greater the vehicles range, the fewer the number of stations that need to be sited,
although the refueling coefcient is also a factor that inuences this number. Hence, how to increase the range of an alter-
native-fuel vehicle is critical toward achieving an effective reduction of the costs of the refueling infrastructure, and is an
important issue for the future development of this technology.
Because the set covering problem belongs to the class of NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems, exact approaches
limit us in solving only moderately sized problems. From the case study, we know that renewing the constraints was a viable
way to solve the large-scale problem. However, the solutions caused the refueling behavior to deviate from the model set-
ting, although it remained reasonable. Therefore, looking for alternative resolution methods such as meta-heuristics or refor-
mulating the problem to reduce the number of constraints to more effectively obtain the solutions will be the focus of future
research.

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