Electric Vehicles in Logistics and Transportation: A Survey on Emerging Environmental, Strategic, and Operational Challenges

Angel Alejandro Juan, Carlos Alberto Mendez, Javier Faulin, Jésica de Armas and Scott Erwin Grasman
Additional contact information
Angel Alejandro Juan: Computer Science Department, Internet Interdisciplinary Institute, Open University of Catalonia, 08018 Barcelona, Spain
Carlos Alberto Mendez: Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, CONICET, 3000 Santa Fe, Argentina
Javier Faulin: Statistics and Operations Research Department, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain
Scott Erwin Grasman: Industrial and Systems Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA

Energies, 2016, vol. 9, issue 2, 1-21

Abstract: Current logistics and transportation (L&T) systems include heterogeneous fleets consisting of common internal combustion engine vehicles as well as other types of vehicles using “green” technologies, e.g., plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles (EVs). However, the incorporation of EVs in L&T activities also raise some additional challenges from the strategic, planning, and operational perspectives. For instance, smart cities are required to provide recharge stations for electric-based vehicles, meaning that investment decisions need to be made about the number, location, and capacity of these stations. Similarly, the limited driving-range capabilities of EVs, which are restricted by the amount of electricity stored in their batteries, impose non-trivial additional constraints when designing efficient distribution routes. Accordingly, this paper identifies and reviews several open research challenges related to the introduction of EVs in L&T activities, including: (a) environmental-related issues; and (b) strategic, planning and operational issues associated with “standard” EVs and with hydrogen-based EVs. The paper also analyzes how the introduction of EVs in L&T systems generates new variants of the well-known Vehicle Routing Problem, one of the most studied optimization problems in the L&T field, and proposes the use of metaheuristics and simheuristics as the most efficient way to deal with these complex optimization problems.

Keywords: electric vehicles; logistics and transportation; green vehicle routing problems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (38)

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