Effects of ambient temperature on the route planning of electric freight vehicles

Electric freight vehicles have strong potential to reduce emissions stemming from logistics operations; however, their limited range still causes critical limitations. Range anxiety is directly related to the total amount of energy consumed during trips. There are several operational factors that affect the energy consumption of electric vehicles and should be considered for accurate route planning. Among them, ambient temperature arises as a key factor because cabin heating or cooling may significantly increase the energy discharged from the battery during the trip and reduce the driving range. Additionally, cold temperatures decrease the battery efficiency and cause performance losses. In this study, the authors investigate the effect of ambient temperature on the fleet composition, energy consumption, and routing decisions in last-mile delivery operations. First, the authors present the mathematical programming formulation of the problem. Next, the authors perform an extensive computational study based on benchmark data from the literature. For solving the small-size instances the authors use a commercial solver. For solving the large-size instances they employ an adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm. The authors' results show that the route plans made without considering the ambient temperature effect may lead to inefficient operations and disruptions. Specifically, the fleet size and energy consumption can increase by 46% and 81%, respectively, in small-size problems on average due to ambient temperature whereas the average increase can reach 15% and 68%, respectively, in large-size problems. Finally, the authors present a case study from a logistics company operating in Southern Turkey to provide managerial insights to both researchers and practitioners.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2019.07.025
• Record URL:
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920919306212
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13619209
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Rastani, Sina
  • Yüksel, Tuğçe
  • Çatay, Bülent
• Publication Date: 2019-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 124-141
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
  • Volume: 74
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 1361-9209
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13619209

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Atmospheric temperature; Case studies; Electric trucks; Energy consumption; Optimization; Routing; Time windows; Vehicle fleets
• Geographic Terms: Turkey
• Subject Areas: Energy; Environment; Freight Transportation; Motor Carriers; Operations and Traffic Management; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01717514
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 19 2019 3:07PM