Routing a mixed fleet of electric and conventional vehicles under regulations of carbon emissions

Abstract

This paper seeks to optimise fleet management for companies that utilise both internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) and electric vehicles by considering various costs, including fixed costs, variable costs, time window penalty costs, fuel costs, and electricity consumption costs. Additionally, the study examines the influence of four types of regulations, i.e. carbon cap, carbon tax, carbon trading, and carbon offsetting, on carbon emissions and fleet configuration. The optimisation model was solved using a Clarke-Wright savings heuristic algorithm followed by an improved adaptive genetic algorithm (IAGA), and a sensitivity analysis was conducted under different regulatory policies. The results show that all four types of regulations can effectively reduce fleet emissions. While carbon prices have a greater impact on carbon regulations than carbon quota, carbon trading was more effective under similar circumstances. Therefore, governments should implement appropriate regulatory strategies to reduce energy consumption and encourage enterprises to reduce their emissions.