A genetic algorithm for energy minimization Vehicle Routing Problem

Energy saving and pollution in traffic have been important considerations in vehicle routing problems(VRP). This paper considers energy minimization VRP (EMVRP) with heterogeneous vehicles. The objective is the product of the arc length and the weight of the vehicle when it traverses that arc. To solve the problem, an improved genetic algorithm is proposed, which employs novel genetic coding and operations. Computational experiments are conducted to verify the performance of the improved genetic algorithm by comparing it with a mathematical model that is run in CPLEX. The results show that the improved genetic algorithm can obtain high-quality solutions in short computation time.