Vehicle Routing Problem Considering Electric Vehicle Battery Consumption

Delivery transport is one of the main drives of the global economy and a major oil consumer. Calculation of optimal routes is an everlasting effort to increase the efficiency of the sector. With the rising trend of electric vehicles, the sector is exploring this revolutionary alternative. This paper presents a vehicle routing problem optimized with the information of delivery-dependent battery consumption, depending on road conditions and cargo. A mathematical model of the vehicle is derived, encompassing the information of mechanical and electrical aspects. Further simplification is introduced with statistical analysis of typical driving cycles in the considered environments. Finally, the on-site road conditions are exploited to have a simple, yet sufficiently accurate information on the battery capacity at every point of the delivery process. The predictive vehicle routing algorithm is applied for the realistic case study and a comparison of electric and conventional diesel vehicles is performed, additionally compared to the current retail data provider. Results show promising monetary costs reductions of up to 80% in various cases, outlying the potential of the new technology and optimization algorithms.