(Institut d'Estadistica de Catalunya (Idescat), 2019) Reyes-Rubiano, Lorena Silvana; Ferone, Daniele; Juan Pérez, Ángel Alejandro; Faulín Fajardo, Javier; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
Green transportation is becoming relevant in the context of smart cities, where the use of electric vehicles represents a promising strategy to support sustainability policies. However the use of electric vehicles shows some drawbacks as well, such as their limited driving-range capacity. This paper analyses a realistic vehicle routing problem in which both driving-range constraints and stochastic travel times are considered. Thus, the main goal is to minimize the expected time-based cost required to complete the freight distribution plan. In order to design reliable routing plans, a simheuristic algorithm is proposed. It combines Monte Carlo simulation with a multi-start metaheuristic, which also employs biased-randomization techniques. By including simulation, simheuristics extend the capabilities of metaheuristics to deal with stochastic problems. A series of computational experiments are performed to test our solving approach as well as to analyse the effect of uncertainty on the routing plans.
