add chargers.txt

[BTollison]

This proposal seeks to provide a file describing the electric vehicle chargeing infrastructure within a network.

ops_location_id

• Conditionally required, when stop_id is not used then a ops_location_id must be present

stop_id

• Conditionally required, when ops_location_id is not used then a stop_id must be present

max_kw

• Required, the maximum amount of power output possible from the charger in kw. This should be an integer value.

number_of_chargers

• Required, this should describe how many charging sessions can take place at this location.

start_time

• Describes the start of the time period of when the charging location is available.
• if blank, it is assumed there are no time restrictions.

end_time

• Describes the end of the time period of when the charging location is available.
• if blank, it is assumed there are no time restrictions.

[skyqrose]

I wonder if this could be folded into #34, as a new type of location. There'd either need to be a way to put the max_kw/times into that file, or this file would still need to be separate (but referencing a child_location that represents this charger).

Why represent one charger with multiple stations, as opposed to many individual chargers? (I'm not familiar with electric vehicle operation, so I don't know how chargers are used or how this data would be used.)

[BTollison]

At the planning / scheduling level, it becomes almost unmanageable to map every charging event to an individual charger, so it is preferred instead to group them. This reduces computation time but also allows for the day-to-day "what charger should I go to?" question to be offloaded to operations.

This is not to say that there aren't scenarios where we do map each charger.. but it's absolutely against best practices.

Does that make sense?

[jeffkessler-keolis]

I understand the use case as many bus fleets transition to BEBs and can likewise see this being used for trains, but may I suggest we generalize this as power_stations.txt to support additional fueling use cases?

i.e.

Add field power_type

• Required, enum, matching add Vehicles.txt  #30 (comment)

Rename field number_of_chargers to number_of_power_stands or number_of_power_stations

• Required, this should describe how many charging sessions can take place at this location.

Rename field max_kw to max_output

• Required; this field describes the maximum power output at a single power station in the group of stations
• Unit type is kw for power_type = enum 1 (battery), gallons for power_type = enum 2 (Diesel), etc.