Node Formulation and a Heuristic Algorithm for Location Routing Problem of Electric-Powered Vehicles

Abstract

Electric vehicle (EV) in the robotic context and also in the future of logistics networks, as a sustainable and emission-free tool of transportation, will play an important role. One of the main EV restrictions is the limited stored energy. Energy-efficient location routing problem (LRP) which has not been investigated vastly in literature can provide solutions to limited energy issues. This paper provides a novel formulation of LRP as well as a heuristic method which finds the best location-allocation, and routing plan of EVs with the objective function of minimizing the total energy cost. The experimental result shows the energy consumption of vehicles using the exact and heuristic method presented in this paper is better than the traditional formulation and heuristic method developed for LRP.