A Hybrid Max-Min Ant System Algorithm for Electric Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem

• Published in: IAENG international journal of computer science Vol. 51; no. 3; p. 195
• Main Authors: Hou, Yan-e, Wang, Congran, Zhang, Chunyang, Dang, Lanxue, Xiao, Chunjing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hong Kong International Association of Engineers 01.03.2024
• Subjects: Algorithms; Electric vehicles; Energy consumption; Energy costs; Hybrid systems; Integer programming; Linear programming; Mixed integer; Search process; Vehicle routing; Vehicles
• ISSN: 1819-656X; 1819-9224

Electric vehicles have become the first choice for products delivery in logistics, due to their environmental friendliness and low cost compared to the traditional fuel vehicles. This paper deals with an electric capacitated vehicle routing problem with variable energy consumption rate (ECVRP), which aims to minimize the total cost including vehicle fixed cost, traveled distance cost and energy cost. First, a mixed integer linear programming model is constructed based on the fact that the energy consumption is affected by the vehicle load. Second, a hybrid Max-Min Ant System (HMMAS) algorithm is proposed to solve this problem. Three neighborhood structures are introduced and executed in a Variable Neighborhood Descent (VND) algorithm to improve the current solution. In addition, an effective charging station adjustment strategy is adopted to further improve the solution obtained by the local search process. Finally, some experiments have been conducted on public instances, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness and stability of the algorithm.