Jingyi Zhao, Haoxiang Yang, Yang Liu
The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is critical to achieving sustainable transportation, but challenges such as limited driving range and insufficient charging infrastructure have hindered the widespread adoption of EVs, especially in time-sensitive logistics such as medical transportation. This paper presents a new model to break through this barrier by combining wireless mobile charging technology with optimization. We propose the Wireless Mobile Charging Electric Vehicle Routing Problem (WMC-EVRP), which enables Medical Transportation Electric Vehicles (MTEVs) to be charged while traveling via Mobile Charging Carts (MCTs). This eliminates the time wastage of stopping for charging and ensures uninterrupted operation of MTEVs for such time-sensitive transportation problems. However, in this problem, the decisions of these two types of heterogeneous vehicles are coupled with each other, which greatly increases the difficulty of vehicle routing optimizations. To address this complex problem, we develop a mathematical model and a tailored meta-heuristic algorithm that combines Bit Mask Dynamic Programming (BDP) and Large Neighborhood Search (LNS). The BDP approach efficiently optimizes charging strategies, while the LNS framework utilizes custom operators to optimize the MTEV routes under capacity and synchronization constraints. Our approach outperforms traditional solvers in providing solutions for medium and large instances. Using actual hospital locations in Singapore as data, we validated the practical applicability of the model through extensive experiments and provided important insights into minimizing costs and ensuring the timely delivery of healthcare services.