A hybrid metaheuristic algorithm for the green vehicle routing problem with a heterogeneous fleet

Abstract

In this study, the green vehicle routing problem (GVRP) with a heterogeneous fleet is presented for both capacity and time-windows constraints to reduce fuel consumption and consequently to minimise CO2 emissions. A hybrid metaheuristic algorithm (HMA) is developed to solve this problem to analyse the effect of a heterogeneous fleet on reducing the fuel consumption for the specified variants of GVRP, such as GVRP with capacity constraints and GVRP with time-windows constraints. The proposed HMA is validated using well-known instances with different numbers of customers and fleet configurations. The computational results indicated that the HMA is capable of obtaining good results for GVRP variants within a reasonable amount of time by providing remarkable reductions in fuel consumption and greener fleet configurations.