Solving the Electric Vehicle Routing Problem Considering the Vehicle Volume Limitation Using a Simulated Annealing Algorithm

This study investigates the problem of electric vehicles routings with a limit on the volume of vehicles capacity. In this regard, the fleet which includes some electric vehicles with given limited battery capacities, should also be taken into account in the planning of distribution. To this end, recharge points are provided in the transmission network to recharge the cars and complete their routes if a battery needs to be recharged. As electric vehicles are only used in the distribution of goods, other aspects should also be considered. One of the important aspects of cargo volume limitation is the relatively low cargo space. Sometimes the goods assigned to a vehicle may be justified by the weight limit but the total volume of goods may exceed the freight volume. Thus, in this research, a mathematical programming model for the problem is presented. Then, several problem instances are designed to validate the model. Then a simulated annealing based algorithm is developed to solve large-scale problems for real world applications.