A review on the charging station planning and fleet operation for electric freight vehicles

TL;DR

This paper reviews current research on planning and operation strategies for electric freight vehicles, highlighting methodologies, challenges, and future directions to support sustainable freight transportation.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive classification and analysis of existing models, solution approaches, and research gaps in EFV charging station planning and fleet operation.

Findings

Mathematical models dominate the literature

Heuristic and simulation methods are also widely used

Future research should focus on integrated planning approaches

Abstract

Freight electrification introduces new opportunities and challenges for planning and operation. Although research on charging infrastructure planning and operation is widely available for general electric vehicles, unique physical and operational characteristics of EFVs coupled with specific patterns of logistics require dedicated research. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review to gain a better understanding of the state-of-the-art research efforts related to planning (charging station siting and sizing) and operation (routing, charge scheduling, platoon scheduling, and fleet sizing) for EFVs. We classified the existing literature based on the research topics, innovations, methodologies, and solution approaches, and future research directions are identified. Different types of methodologies, such as heuristic, simulation, and mathematical programming approaches, were applied in the reviewed literature where mathematical models account for the majority. We further narrated the specific modeling considerations for different logistic patterns and research goals with proper reasoning. To solve the proposed models, different solution approaches, including exact algorithms, metaheuristic algorithms, and software simulation, were evaluated in terms of applicability, advantages, and disadvantages. This paper helps to draw more attention to the planning and operation issues and solutions for freight electrification and facilitates future studies on EFV to ensure a smooth transition to a clean freight system.