Charging Station Planning and Fleet Operation for Electric Freight Vehicles: A State-of-the-Art Review

This paper presents a comprehensive literature review to gain a better understanding of the state-of-the-art research efforts related to charging station (CS) planning, operational scheduling, and their integration for electric freight vehicles (EFVs). CS planning studies primarily focused on determining optimal locations for charging station deployment (siting) and the number of charging plugs to install (sizing). In contrast, operational scheduling studies aimed to optimize routing, charging schedules, and fleet allocation. We reviewed the existing literature based on the research topics, innovations, methodologies, and solution approaches and identified future research directions. The reviewed literature incorporated various methodologies, including heuristic, simulation, and mathematical programming approaches. Mathematical programming models dominated operational scheduling studies, whereas coverage, queuing models, and simulation methods were commonly used for CS planning. Solution techniques such as exact and metaheuristic algorithms were assessed to address these mathematical programming models, focusing on their applicability, advantages, and limitations. We also narrated the specific modeling considerations for different logistic patterns and research goals with proper reasoning. This paper helps 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.