A New Mathematical Model for the Green Vehicle Routing Problem by Considering a Bi-Fuel Mixed Vehicle Fleet

Abstract

This paper formulates a mathematical model for the Green Vehicle Routing Problem (GVRP), incorporating bi-fuel (natural gas and gasoline) pickup trucks in a mixed vehicle fleet. The objective is to minimize overall costs relating to service (earliness and tardiness), transportation (fixed, variable and fuel), and carbon emissions. To reflect a real-world situation, the study considers: (1) a comprehensive fuel consumption function with a soft time window, and (2) an en-route fuel refueling option to eliminate the constraint of driving range. A linear set of valid inequalities for computing fuel consumption were introduced. In order to validate the presented model, first, the model is solved for an illustrative example. Then each component of cost objective function is considered separately so as to investigate the effects of each part on the obtained solutions and the importance of vehicles speed on transportation strategies. Computational analysis shows that, despite the limitation of an appropriate service infrastructure, the proposed model demonstrated an average reduction of 44%, 6% and 5% in carbon emission costs, total distribution costs, and transportation costs respectively. Moreover, the study found paradoxical effects of average speed, suggesting the need to manage trade-offs: while higher speeds reduced service costs, they increased carbon emission costs. In the next stage, some experiments modified from the literature are solved. According to these experiments, in all instances greater objective function values for Gasoline vehicles are gained. The difference in the carbon emission objective is also significant, with an average of 44.23% increase. Finally, managerial and institutional implications are discussed.