Location decision of electric vehicle charging station based on a novel grey correlation comprehensive evaluation multi-criteria decision method

In response to energy and environmental challenges, the number of electric vehicles (EVs) operating in cities will grow massively in many countries in the future clean energy transition, so the location decision of electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS) becomes crucial.Therefore, for this multi-criteria decision problem (MCDM), In this paper, a novel double combination research framework of grey relational comprehensive evaluation is proposed: (i) Firstly, the EVCS location index system is constructed from the perspectives of economic cost, traffic condition, power grid standard and environmental tolerance. (ii) The entropy method and DEMATEL are introduced to calculate the subjective and objective weights, and the minimum deviation method is used for combination design to overcome the defects of single method.(iii) A combination model of EVCS location decision based on grey correlation method (GRA) and approximation ideal solution sequencing method (TOPSIS) was constructed. (iv) The framework is employed in a case study, and the feasibility and optimization of the framework are verified by two-sensitivity analysis and comparative analysis. The final result : This paper determines the best area from the five suitable areas, and selects the best EVCS site from the best area. The proposed subjective and objective combination weights, road network spatial analysis and improved TOPSIS research framework will provide a new idea for the MCDM problem and provide reference for the location decision of EVCS.