THE PARTIALLY RECHARGEABLE ELECTRIC VEHICLE ROUTING PROBLEM WITH TIME WINDOWS AND CAPACITATED CHARGING STATIONS

Electric vehicles are potentially beneficial for both the environment and an organization's bottom line. These benefits include, but are not limited to, reduced fuel costs, government tax incentives, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and the ability to promote a company's "green" image. In order to decide whether or not to convert or purchase electric trucks and install charging facilities, decision makers need to consider many factors including onboard battery capacity, delivery or service assignments, scheduling and routes, as well as weather and traffic conditions in a well-defined modeling framework. We develop a model to solve the partially rechargeable electric vehicle routing problem with time windows and capacitated charging stations. Given destination data and vehicle properties, our model determines the optimal number of vehicles or charging stations needed to meet the network's requirements. Analyzing the model shows the relationships between vehicle range, battery recharge time, and fleet size.