Optimal Dispatch and Routing of Electrified Heavy-Duty Truck Fleets: A Case Study with Fleet Data

Electrifying the trucking fleet has the potential to substantially reduce the carbon footprint of logistics. However, fleet electrification also poses significant operational challenges. This study provides an up-to-date, realistic case study on optimal dispatch and routing of a heterogeneous fleet of heavy-duty trucks with the goal to improve the economic and environmental benefits of electrification. A fleet management optimization model incorporating detailed energy consumption modeling was proposed, and applied to real-world fleet demand data for practical insights. The results from numerical experiments show the decision complexities of fleet management with the proposed optimization. We demonstrate that it is more cost-effective to electrify half of the fleet when the diesel (USD/gal) versus electricity (USD/kWh) price ratio is from 20 to 30. These findings provide a critical reference point for challenging the misconception that electrified fleets are always more expensive. Additionally, this analysis reveals how policymakers can use other pathways and tax policies to close the total cost of ownership gap between diesel and electric trucks to encourage the electrification of heavy-duty trucks.