3175. Driving Sustainability: How Operations Research Supports Zero-Emission Bus Fleet Decisions
Invited abstract in session MD-3: EPOCG, stream EURO Prize for OR for the Common Good.
Monday, 14:30-16:00Room: Esther Simpson 1.01
Authors (first author is the speaker)
| 1. | Sophie Parragh
|
| Institute of Production and Logistics Management, Johannes Kepler University Linz | |
| 2. | Elisabeth Gaar
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| University of Augsburg | |
| 3. | Xenia Haslinger
|
| Institute of Production and Logistics Management, Johannes Kepler University Linz |
Abstract
The “avoid - shift - improve” framework and the European Clean Vehicles Directive set the path for improving the efficiency and ultimately decarbonizing the transport sector. While electric buses have already been adopted in several cities, regional bus lines pose additional challenges due to the potentially longer distances they have to travel.
In this work, we modeled and solved the multi-depot electric vehicle scheduling problem (MDEVSP), lexicographically minimizing the size of the bus fleet, the number of charging stops, and the total energy consumed, while maintaining a given timetable. We developed a graph representation, which allows partial charging without explicitly relying on time variables and derive 3-index and 2-index mixed-integer linear programming formulations for the MDEVSP. While the 3-index model can be solved by an off-the-shelf solver directly, the 2-index model relies on an exponential number of constraints, separated in a cutting plane fashion.
Our research has been carried out within the collaborative research project "Zero Emission Mobility Salzburg (ZEMoS)" and provided decision support for the local public transport authority in the tendering of line-based contracts with zero-emission vehicles in two pilot regions in the country of Salzburg. The main decisions concerned the type of zero-emission technology and the size of the bus fleet. The first battery electric buses are now already in operation.
Our results were also used as input to total cost of ownership computations by one of our project partners, and they serve as the basis for solution approaches for the multiple line, heterogeneous fleet MDEVSP to evaluate bus concepts for entire pilot regions.
Keywords
- Vehicle Routing
Status: accepted
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