The Electric Vehicle-Routing Problem with Time Windows and Recharging Stations

Driven by new laws and regulations concerning the emission of greenhouse gases, carriers are starting to use electric vehicles for last-mile deliveries. The limited battery capacities of these vehicles necessitate visits to recharging stations during delivery tours of industry-typical length, which have to be considered in the route planning to avoid inefficient vehicle routes with long detours. We introduce the electric vehicle-routing problem with time windows and recharging stations E-VRPTW, which incorporates the possibility of recharging at any of the available stations using an appropriate recharging scheme. Furthermore, we consider limited vehicle freight capacities as well as customer time windows, which are the most important constraints in real-world logistics applications. As a solution method, we present a hybrid heuristic that combines a variable neighborhood search algorithm with a tabu search heuristic. Tests performed on newly designed instances for the E-VRPTW as well as on benchmark instances of related problems demonstrate the high performance of the heuristic proposed as well as the positive effect of the hybridization.

[1]  Christos D. Tarantilis,et al.  Solving Large-Scale Vehicle Routing Problems with Time Windows: The State-of-the-Art , 2010 .

[2]  M. Figliozzi.  The impacts of congestion on time-definitive urban freight distribution networks CO2 emission levels: Results from a case study in Portland, Oregon , 2011 .

[3]  Roberto Roberti,et al.  Recent exact algorithms for solving the vehicle routing problem under capacity and time window constraints , 2012, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[4]  Yves Rochat,et al.  Probabilistic diversification and intensification in local search for vehicle routing , 1995, J. Heuristics.

[5]  Liesje De Boeck,et al.  Municipal Solid Waste Collection and Management Problems: A Literature Review , 2014, Transp. Sci..

[6]  Richard W. Eglese,et al.  Vehicle routing and scheduling with time-varying data: A case study , 2010, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[7]  Ying-Wei Wang,et al.  Locating Passenger Vehicle Refueling Stations , 2010 .

[8]  Gilbert Laporte,et al.  A unified tabu search heuristic for vehicle routing problems with time windows , 2001, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[9]  Miguel A. Figliozzi,et al.  An economic and technological analysis of the key factors affecting the competitiveness of electric commercial vehicles: A case study from the USA market , 2013 .

[10]  Reza Ghodsi,et al.  Optimal Location of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Refueling Station Using the Arc Demand Coverage Model , 2010, 2010 Fourth Asia International Conference on Mathematical/Analytical Modelling and Computer Simulation.

[11]  F. Marra,et al.  Demand profile study of battery electric vehicle under different charging options , 2012, 2012 IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting.

[12]  G. Laporte,et al.  Discrete Optimization The multi-depot vehicle routing problem with inter-depot routes , 2007 .

[13]  Miguel A. Figliozzi,et al.  Vehicle Routing Problem for Emissions Minimization , 2010 .

[14]  Guy Desaulniers,et al.  A branch-and-price-based large neighborhood search algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with time windows , 2009, Networks.

[15]  Paolo Toth,et al.  The Vehicle Routing Problem , 2002, SIAM monographs on discrete mathematics and applications.

[16]  J. F. Pierce,et al.  ON THE TRUCK DISPATCHING PROBLEM , 1971 .

[17]  Toshihide Ibaraki,et al.  An iterated local search algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with convex time penalty functions , 2008, Discret. Appl. Math..

[18]  Angel A. Juan,et al.  Optimizing Routes with Safety and Environmental Criteria in Transportation Management in Spain: A Case Study , 2011, Int. J. Inf. Syst. Supply Chain Manag..

[19]  de Ag Ton Kok,et al.  Analysis of travel times and CO2 emissions in time-dependent vehicle routing , 2012 .

[20]  Chung-Lun Li,et al.  On the Distance Constrained Vehicle Routing Problem , 1992, Oper. Res..

[21]  Richard F. Hartl,et al.  A Variable Neighborhood Search for the Multi Depot Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows , 2004, J. Heuristics.

[22]  Byung-In Kim,et al.  Waste collection vehicle routing problem with time windows using multi-objective genetic algorithms , 2007 .

[23]  Zuo-Jun Max Shen,et al.  Infrastructure Planning for Electric Vehicles with Battery Swapping , 2012 .

[24]  David Pisinger,et al.  An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Heuristic for the Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows , 2006, Transp. Sci..

[25]  Hiroaki Ishii,et al.  ROUTING A VEHICLE WITH THE LIMITATION OF FUEL , 1981 .

[26]  Richard F. Hartl,et al.  A variable neighborhood search heuristic for periodic routing problems , 2009, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[27]  Martin Leucker,et al.  The Shortest Path Problem Revisited: Optimal Routing for Electric Vehicles , 2010, KI.

[28]  James B. Orlin,et al.  Theory of cyclic transfers , 1989 .

[29]  Paolo Toth,et al.  The Granular Tabu Search and Its Application to the Vehicle-Routing Problem , 2003, INFORMS J. Comput..

[30]  Stefan Spinler,et al.  Fleet Renewal with Electric Vehicles at La Poste , 2012, Interfaces.

[31]  Toshihide Ibaraki,et al.  Effective Local Search Algorithms for Routing and Scheduling Problems with General Time-Window Constraints , 2005, Transp. Sci..

[32]  Ernesto Cipriani,et al.  Transit network design with allocation of green vehicles: A genetic algorithm approach , 2009 .

[33]  Qiang Meng,et al.  Distance-constrained capacitated vehicle routing problems with flexible assignment of start and end depots , 2008, Math. Comput. Model..

[34]  Hiroaki Ishii,et al.  Two routing problems with the limitation of fuel , 1983, Discret. Appl. Math..

[35]  Martin W. P. Savelsbergh,et al.  Local search in routing problems with time windows , 1984 .

[36]  C. D. Gelatt,et al.  Optimization by Simulated Annealing , 1983, Science.

[37]  Emmanouil E. Zachariadis,et al.  A Hybrid Guided Local Search for the Vehicle-Routing Problem with Intermediate Replenishment Facilities , 2008, INFORMS J. Comput..

[38]  Helman I. Stern,et al.  Optimal refueling strategies for a mixed-vehicle fleet , 1985 .

[39]  Paolo Toth,et al.  Models, relaxations and exact approaches for the capacitated vehicle routing problem , 2002, Discret. Appl. Math..

[40]  Wout Dullaert,et al.  A penalty-based edge assembly memetic algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with time windows , 2010, Comput. Oper. Res..

[41]  Michel Gendreau,et al.  Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows, Part I: Route Construction and Local Search Algorithms , 2005, Transp. Sci..

[42]  Christian Prins,et al.  A Metaheuristic to Solve a Location-Routing Problem with Non-Linear Costs , 2005, J. Heuristics.

[43]  Adam Szczepanek,et al.  Fast Charging vs. Slow Charging: Pros and cons for the New Age of Electric Vehicles , 2009 .

[44]  Dan Wang,et al.  Intelligent Strategy on Coordinated Charging of PHEV with TOU Price , 2011, 2011 Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference.

[45]  Z. M. Salameh,et al.  Evaluation of Lithium iron phosphate batteries for electric vehicles application , 2009, 2009 IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference.

[46]  Michael Schneider,et al.  A note on the time travel approach for handling time windows in vehicle routing problems , 2013, Comput. Oper. Res..

[47]  Pierre Hansen,et al.  Variable Neighborhood Search , 2018, Handbook of Heuristics.

[48]  L. V. Wassenhove,et al.  Sustainable Operations Management , 2005 .

[49]  Haixing Wang,et al.  Heuristic approaches for solving transit vehicle scheduling problem with route and fueling time constraints , 2007, Appl. Math. Comput..

[50]  Gilbert Laporte,et al.  Optimal Routing under Capacity and Distance Restrictions , 1985, Oper. Res..

[51]  Helman I. Stern,et al.  Optimal refueling sequence for a mixed fleet with limited refuelings , 1986 .

[52]  Jean-Yves Potvin,et al.  An Exchange Heuristic for Routeing Problems with Time Windows , 1995 .

[53]  Ioannis Mallidis,et al.  Operations Research for green logistics - An overview of aspects, issues, contributions and challenges , 2011, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[54]  Michel Gendreau,et al.  A Tabu Search Heuristic for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Soft Time Windows , 1997, Transp. Sci..

[55]  Alan Campbell McKinnon,et al.  Green Logistics: Improving the Environmental Sustainability of Logistics , 2010 .

[56]  Lino Guzzella,et al.  Vehicle Propulsion Systems: Introduction to Modeling and Optimization , 2005 .

[57]  Michel Gendreau,et al.  Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows, Part II: Metaheuristics , 2005, Transp. Sci..

[58]  Harilaos N. Psaraftis,et al.  k-Interchange procedures for local search in a precedence-constrained routing problem , 1983 .

[59]  Samir K. Srivastava,et al.  Green Supply-Chain Management: A State-of-the-Art Literature Review , 2007 .

[60]  Chris Mi,et al.  Vehicle Power Management: Modeling, Control and Optimization , 2011 .

[61]  Fang He,et al.  Optimal deployment of public charging stations for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles , 2013 .

[62]  Gilbert Laporte,et al.  An adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic for the Pollution-Routing Problem , 2012, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[63]  Daniele Vigo,et al.  An Adaptive Variable Neighborhood Search Algorithm for a Vehicle Routing Problem Arising in Small Package Shipping , 2013, Transp. Sci..

[64]  Gilbert Laporte,et al.  Fifty Years of Vehicle Routing , 2009, Transp. Sci..

[65]  Gilbert Laporte,et al.  The Pollution-Routing Problem , 2011 .

[66]  Martin W. P. Savelsbergh,et al.  The Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows: Minimizing Route Duration , 1992, INFORMS J. Comput..

[67]  Marius M. Solomon,et al.  Algorithms for the Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problems with Time Window Constraints , 1987, Oper. Res..

[68]  Shen Lin.  Computer solutions of the traveling salesman problem , 1965 .

[69]  F. Arcelus,et al.  Green logistics at Eroski: A case study , 2011 .

[70]  Miguel A. Figliozzi,et al.  A Methodology to Evaluate the Competitiveness of Electric Delivery Trucks , 2013 .

[71]  Miguel A. Figliozzi,et al.  The Recharging Vehicle Routing Problem , 2011 .

[72]  Franklin Farell.  Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area: Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system , 2014 .

[73]  J. R. Jaramillo,et al.  The Green Vehicle Routing Problem , 2011 .

[74]  Olli Bräysy,et al.  A Reactive Variable Neighborhood Search for the Vehicle-Routing Problem with Time Windows , 2003, INFORMS J. Comput..

[75]  Ying-Wei Wang,et al.  Locating Road-Vehicle Refueling Stations , 2009 .

[76]  Richard W. Eglese,et al.  Combinatorial optimization and Green Logistics , 2010, Ann. Oper. Res..