An optimization framework for the development of efficient one-way car-sharing systems

Abstract

a b s t r a c tElectric vehicle-sharing systems have been introduced to a number of cities as a means of increasing mobility, reducing congestion, and pollution. Electric vehicle-sharing systems can offer one or two-way services. One-way systems provide more flexibility to users since they can be dropped-off at any station. However, their modeling involves a number of complexities arising from the need to relocate vehicles accumulated at certain stations. The planning of one-way electric vehicle-sharing systems involves a host of strongly interacting decisions regarding the number, size and location of stations, as well as the fleet size.In this paper we develop and solve a multi-objective MILP model for planning one-way vehicle-sharing systems taking into account vehicle relocation and electric vehicle charging requirements. For real world problems the size of the problem becomes intractable due to the extremely large number of relocation variables. In order to cope with this problem we introduce an aggregate model using the concept of the virtual hub. This transformation allows the solution of the problem with a branch-and-bound approach.The proposed approach generates the efficient frontier and allows decision makers to examine the trade-off between operator's and users' benefits. The capabilities of the proposed approach are demonstrated on a large scale real world problem with available data from Nice, France. Extensive sensitivity analysis was performed by varying demand, station accessibility distance and subsidy levels. The results provide useful insights regarding the efficient planning of one-way electric vehicle-sharing systems and allow decision makers to quantify the trade-off between operator's and users' benefits.

The Development of a Circular Evaluation (Cev) Tool – Case Study for the 2024 Budapest Olympics

“…This is one of the reasons why the platforms related to sharing economy concern the new method to use traffic systems [72]. So, the fact is commonly accepted, that a car -similarly to many other products -satisfies its function in the most efficient manner, if it's always in use [73,74,75]. Therefore, based on the logic of eco-efficiency, the travel distance taken via taxi (or other mass transport or vehicle sharing platforms) is much more advantageous than being personally owned by the user.…”

Performance Analysis of a Forecasting Relocation Model for One-Way Carsharing

“…However, in order to evaluate the performance of the one-way carsharing system, the one-way demand should be considered as an input for evaluation. Boyaci et al have presented the conversion of round-trip data to one-way data [28]. The conversion is done by splitting single round-trip data into multiple one-way data when the idle time of the rented vehicle at a given location exceeded one hour and the location is near a station by less than 500 m.…”

“…The HanCar company only offered round-trip service (i.e., the same destination and departure station), whereas the simulation also considered one-way service. Boyaci et al have proposed the scenario to convert the round-trip data into one-way data [28]. Given the GPS data, the conversion is done by splitting the single round-trip data into multiple one-way data when the idle time of the rented vehicle at a given location exceeded one hour.…”

Vehicle Relocation Triggering Thresholds Determination in Electric Carsharing System under Stochastic Demand

“…Strategy level covers issues of environment and resources benefits [8,9], market investigation [10,11], users' behavior [12,13], and network design [14,15]. Operating level problems also received attention, but studies are still not sufficient to support the industrial development, especially for one-way model, which allows users to pick up and drop off vehicles at different stations.…”

“…For some preliminary one-way carsharing systems which require users to provide reservation information, mathematical programming approaches can be adopted without many obstacles. With demands known, the problem can be formulated as mixed integer programming and efficiently solved by feasible solvers [14,[16][17][18].…”