Vehicle Dynamics in Pickup-And-Delivery Problems Using Electric Vehicles

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are set to replace vehicles based on internal combustion engines. Path planning and vehicle routing for EVs need to take their specific characteristics into account, such as reduced range, long charging times, and energy recuperation. This paper investigates the importance of vehicle dynamics parameters in energy models for EV routing, particularly in the Pickup-and-Delivery Problem (PDP). We use Constraint Programming (CP) technology to develop a complete PDP model with different charger technologies. We adapt realistic instances that consider vehicle dynamics parameters such as vehicle mass, road gradient and driving speed to varying degrees. The results of our experiments show that neglecting such fundamental vehicle dynamics parameters can affect the feasibility of planned routes for EVs, and fewer/shorter charging visits will be planned if we use energy-efficient paths instead of conventional shortest paths in the underlying system model.
LIPIcs, Vol. 210, 27th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2021), pages 11:1-11:17