Selection of alternative fuel taxis: a hybridized approach of life cycle sustainability assessment and multi-criteria decision making with neutrosophic sets

Abstract

This study presents a combined application of hybrid life cycle sustainability assessment and multi-criteria decision-making, aiming to further advance an integrated sustainability assessment and decision-making for the selection of alternative-fuel taxis. First, a multiregional hybrid life cycle sustainability assessment model is built to evaluate macro-level sustainability impacts of various vehicle types: conventional gasoline vehicles, compressed natural gas vehicles, hybrid, and battery electric vehicles. Second, considering the subjective nature of the evaluation process, the interval-valued neutrosophic sets-based analytic hierarchy process is suggested to assess the results obtained from the life cycle model to determine the weight of each evaluation criterion. Then, the technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution is used to rank the sustainability performance. Two different charging scenarios are also tested. The results show that solar-powered BEVs are the best in the environmental impacts with the exceptions of water consumption and land use. Solar-powered BEVs are superior in human health impact, while, ICVs are the best in compensation and employment generations. The ranking results reveal that solar-powered BEVs are the best alternatives when all indicators are considered, followed by CNG vehicles. The proposed method provides a practical and life cycle-based decision-making approach to support and prioritize effective policies for more sustainable transportation.