Matching Items (3)
Description
Vehicles powered by electricity and alternative-fuels are becoming a more popular form of transportation since they have less of an environmental impact than standard gasoline vehicles. Unfortunately, their success is currently inhibited by the sparseness of locations where the vehicles can refuel as well as the fact that many of the vehicles have a range that is less than those powered by gasoline. These factors together create a "range anxiety" in drivers, which causes the drivers to worry about the utility of alternative-fuel and electric vehicles and makes them less likely to purchase these vehicles. For the new vehicle technologies to thrive it is critical that range anxiety is minimized and performance is increased as much as possible through proper routing and scheduling. In the case of long distance trips taken by individual vehicles, the routes must be chosen such that the vehicles take the shortest routes while not running out of fuel on the trip. When many vehicles are to be routed during the day, if the refueling stations have limited capacity then care must be taken to avoid having too many vehicles arrive at the stations at any time. If the vehicles that will need to be routed in the future are unknown then this problem is stochastic. For fleets of vehicles serving scheduled operations, switching to alternative-fuels requires ensuring the schedules do not cause the vehicles to run out of fuel. This is especially problematic since the locations where the vehicles may refuel are limited due to the technology being new. This dissertation covers three related optimization problems: routing a single electric or alternative-fuel vehicle on a long distance trip, routing many electric vehicles in a network where the stations have limited capacity and the arrivals into the system are stochastic, and scheduling fleets of electric or alternative-fuel vehicles with limited locations to refuel. Different algorithms are proposed to solve each of the three problems, of which some are exact and some are heuristic. The algorithms are tested on both random data and data relating to the State of Arizona.
ContributorsAdler, Jonathan D (Author) / Mirchandani, Pitu B. (Thesis advisor) / Askin, Ronald (Committee member) / Gel, Esma (Committee member) / Xue, Guoliang (Committee member) / Zhang, Muhong (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Lithium ion batteries are quintessential components of modern life. They are used to power smart devices — phones, tablets, laptops, and are rapidly becoming major elements in the automotive industry. Demand projections for lithium are skyrocketing with production struggling to keep up pace. This drive is due mostly to the rapid adoption of electric vehicles; sales of electric vehicles in 2020 are more than double what they were only a year prior. With such staggering growth it is important to understand how lithium is sourced and what that means for the environment. Will production even be capable of meeting the demand as more industries make use of this valuable element? How will the environmental impact of lithium affect growth? This thesis attempts to answer these questions as the world looks to a decade of rapid growth for lithium ion batteries.
ContributorsMelton, John (Author) / Brian, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Karwat, Darshawn (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
In March 2019, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report describing the critical importance of the next decade in mitigating the effects of climate change. From a consumer perspective, the most impactful method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is by altering and/or reducing usage of personal and public transportation. Despite the significant technological advances in vehicle electrification, vehicle mileage, and hybrid technology, there is a gap in analysis performed about the relationship between oil prices and electric vehicle sales. This can be largely attributed to the large variation in oil and gas prices within the last decade and the short timeframe in which electric vehicles have been available to the average consumer. In addition to oil prices, significant driving factors of consumer electric vehicle purchases include battery range, availability and accessibly of charging infrastructure, and tax incentives. While consumers clearly have a significant role to play in driving electric vehicle sales, by virtue of the time commitment required to research and develop these emerging technologies, manufacturers have an arguably greater role in determining the market share EVs possess. The concept of “market disruption” versus “market replacement” is an intriguing explanation for the failure of electric vehicles, which as of early 2019 held a market share of less than 2%, to become the primary mode of transportation for most Americans, despite their wide-ranging financial and societal benefits, which will be a key challenge for the industry to overcome in the years to come.
ContributorsStout, Julia (Author) / Jennings, Cheryl (Thesis director) / Metcalfe, Carly (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems & Operations Engineering Prgm (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05