Optimal location of refuelling stations for hydrogen-powered freight vehicles: models and methods

The Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) proposes, among other measures, to invest in 40 hydrogen vehicle refuelling stations to promote the use of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) for long-haul freight transport. The plan does not specify the location of the stations but just states generically that they should be located along the most heavily used routes for road freight transport. This paper is part of a larger research project aimed at optimising the location of hydrogen refuelling stations on Italy's primary road network. This work examines the different models for the optimal location of facilities on a network and some algorithms that can be used to solve them. As a result of this analysis, the flow-capturing models were found to be the most suitable for this research and an optimisation model was formulated, with the assumption of identifying the most suitable network links for the location of refuelling stations. The proposed approach was also tested on a toy network to verify its ability to tackle the problem.