Urban Consolidation Centre: a Literature Review, Categorisation and a Future Research Agenda

In recent years, many countries have set specific goals to replace fossil fuel vehicles with the electric ones due to environmental concerns and issues related to energy supply security; it is predicted that using these vehicles will increase rapidly in the upcoming years. Therefore, in addition to home chargers, fast charging stations are needed to accelerate the charging speed and to save the costs of the consumed energy by the owner, thus lowering the disruptive effects of the home chargers on the power quality of the electricity grid. The price of the electric vehicle, independence, charging process and charging infrastructures are the main factors that have major effects on the progress and development of electricity. During the last few years, numerous concepts and topics such as energy management, infrastructure and the best charging plan with integrated energy and developed technologies are introduced for modeling charging stations. Therefore, the most important requirements in this field are improving the efficiency of charging stations in terms of charging speed, managing between charging and discharging, existence of renewable sources and Energy Storage System (ESS). Recognizing and studying these components and their development are the important parts of this research, which has not been studied before. In other words, this paper review the state-of-the-art aspects for different levels of designing a fast-charging station with complete coverage of the research work done related to the upcoming challenges. Considering the advantages and disadvantages of electric vehicles (EVs), some challenges in this concept and ideas for the future expansion of EVs charging station and its communications are introduced. Results from different surveys show that along with mutual communications and people's increasing desire for EVs, participation in planning will be beneficial for both the society and the government, which will result in the desired social welfare. Also, the presence of renewable resources due to technology development has become far more impressive. Finally, the various aspects of fast-charging stations along with an overview of probable areas for future study in this field are also presented. 

Fast-charging station for electric vehicles, challenges and issues: A comprehensive review

Diesel is the most used fuel for buses and other urban transport vehicles in European countries. This paper deals with impacts on emissions production from the operation of the urban public transport fleet after its renewal. To what extent can the renewal of the urban public transport fleet in the city of Žilina contribute to increasing environmental sustainability in the way of reducing air pollution? The vehicle fleet change has partially consisted of vehicle traction system transition-diesel buses were substituted by hybrid driven (HEV) and electric driven buses (BEV). How can the direct and indirect emissions from the operation of vehicles be calculated? These were the posed research questions. The research aimed to propose a methodology for the calculation of direct and indirect emissions. Indirect emissions values (WtT—Well-to-Tank) for different types of fuels and tractions were obtained based on regression functions. These WtT emission factors together with the existing TtW (Tank-to-Wheels) emission factors (direct emissions) can be used for the assessment of environmental impacts of specific types of vehicles concerning energy source, fuel, or powertrain and type of operation. Direct pollutants such as CO, NOx and PM were calculated with the use of simulation methodology of HBEFA (Handbook of Emission Factors for Road Transport) software. The calculated CO2 savings for the period 2019–2023 about fleet renewal in absolute terms are EUR 1.3 million tons compared to the operation of the original fleet while maintaining the same driving performance. The renewal of the vehicle fleet secured by vehicle traction transition can be a way to reduce the energy intensity and environmental impacts of public transport in Žilina.

Environmental Sustainability of the Vehicle Fleet Change in Public City Transport of Selected City in Central Europe

Before the COVID-19 pandemic there had already been an increase in individual shipment transportation including inner-city areas. During the pandemic and implementation of adopted preventive measures, it has increased by more than 100% in some cities. This presents an unsustainable development, particularly in terms of urban environment. The above-mentioned development has accelerated the research related to optimal allocation of logistics centres considering the last-mile distribution. Unfortunately, the theoretical mathematical model that finds an optimal urban logistics centre location based on the matrix of distance, number, and weight of shipments is not applicable in most cities. Therefore, the following research methodology was chosen in accordance with the approved territorial plan. The authors considered those locations in Bratislava—the capital of Slovak Republic—which are designated, or suitable for building up of an urban logistics centre. These localities were afterwards evaluated in a real-world case study employing methods of mathematical programming (linear programming), the nearest neighbour method, and the Clarke-Wright method. The presented methodology can be applied not only when deciding on the appropriate location of the city logistics centre, but also at optimizing the vehicle routing problem. Taking into account the urban logistics sustainability and the e-commerce growth, it was analysed whether the suggested location of urban logistics centre is feasible to provision examined facilities using electric vehicles. The range of considered electric vehicles of N2 category present in the market tends to be at the limits of distribution routes length for the given case study. Therefore, the article also deals with the fast-charging possibilities of vehicles during handling operations and the use of hybrid freight vehicles in city logistics.

The Growth of E-Commerce Due to COVID-19 and the Need for Urban Logistics Centers Using Electric Vehicles: Bratislava Case Study

Proposal of digital twin for testing and measuring of transport belts for pipe conveyors within the concept Industry 4.0

The paper is focused on the issue of assessing the quality of transport connectivity on a predesignated transport network in regular public passenger transport at a regional scale. Comprehensively, using the defined key qualitative indicators, it assesses the performance of passenger transport timetables, in both ways of ex ante, as well as ex post. Existing methodologies in a given issue have only dealt with a partial assessment of the transport connectivity quality on specific transport network. However, unlike them, the objective of this manuscript was to propose a new unified methodology to assess the passenger transport timetables in terms of transport connectivity, and subsequently to complexly evaluate the whole predesignated regional transport network from a qualitative point of view. In this paper, the proposed methodology is demonstrated on a particular regional transport network, specifically an existing railway network in the Slovak Republic, whereby the data related to regional passenger transport timetables for a certain day is an input factor. The purpose of this study was to design and verify a draft methodological procedure to assess the quality of transport connectivity on a certain transport network, thus moving towards more effective evaluation of integrated transport systems. Its practical applicability consists in comparison of existing and proposed timetables, which is considered one of the crucial factors in terms of public passenger transport quality.

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Approach Methodology for Comprehensive Assessing the Public Passenger Transport Timetable Performances at a Regional Scale

This paper deals with waste management. The aim is to find out whether the number of municipal mixed waste bins can be reduced due to the impact of waste separation and to determine the optimum municipal waste collection cycle within a predesignated area with an existing urban road network. The number of mixed waste bins depends on two factors—household waste volume and household waste composition. Both of these factors have a significant impact on the number of mixed waste bins required, with household waste composition being of particular importance when it comes to calculating the potential reduction in the number of mixed waste bins required due to waste separation. The calculations for the weight and volume of mixed household waste per person and the composition (types) thereof are presented accordingly. The results reveal which types of waste are the most useful in minimising the number of mixed waste bins by up to 30–50%. To determine the optimum waste collection cycle within the predesignated area with a real urban road network, the Nearest Neighbour Search method was applied. In the discussion, the focus is on whether other methods, including the Two-Phase Heuristic approach and the Bellman-Ford Algorithm, could be applied to solve the problem, whereby parameters such as application time and the capacity of the waste collection vehicle are compared.

Application of the Operational Research Method to Determine the Optimum Transport Collection Cycle of Municipal Waste in a Predesignated Urban Area

The aim of this article is to modify the parameters and thus the objective function of the deterministic model of inventory theory so that other important aspects, which influence inventory management, can be taken into consideration. These aspects include the nature of inventory consumption, the share of inventories in sales, the capacity of means of transport and, above all, the reliability of suppliers. This goal is achieved by performing sophisticated and specific calculations for the individual parameters in the modified model. The modification of the objective function of the deterministic model has created a new multi-criteria model. The outcome of this model sought to optimize the supply process in a way that minimizes the risks associated with a lack of inventories while maintaining the economic effectiveness thereof. The model effectiveness is examined by comparing the application of the deterministic model and the proposed model with modified objective function. The results of applying these individual models have been produced based on calculations of indicators showing inventory management effectiveness—the speed of inventory turnover and the average number of inventories in storage.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4175/pdf

Inventory Model Design by Implementing New Parameters into the Deterministic Model Objective Function to Streamline Effectiveness Indicators of the Inventory Management

The manuscript discusses the overview and specification of the existing Operations Research methods for their implementation in terms of addressing distribution tasks, in particular to optimize delivery routes at a City logistics scale. First of all, a detailed literature review in a given context is elaborated, while the description of potentially relevant techniques to be applied is presented. The manuscript objective is to identify the most appropriate and benefit methods for their implementation to solve vehicle routing problem (hereinafter as VRP) at a City logistics scale and related optimization operations; i.e. to seek the shortest possible routes during the customer’s delivery activities. In this matter, it is important to state that relevant distribution (pick-up and delivery) tasks can be expressed in a form of graphs on specified transport networks, and thereby use the individual techniques of graph theory. The particular transport network, as the basic concept of transport theory, is defined as a finite set of vertices and edges representing the infrastructure of roads of a network. Each network must be coherent, i.e. there must be at least one path for each vertex pair connecting these two vertices. Each network edge as well as vertex is defined by a certain value or set of values, for example, the edge length, the time it takes to pass, the amount of work that needs to be done on the edge, etc.

Using the Operations Research Methods to Address Distribution Tasks at a City Logistics Scale

The manuscript discusses the current development trends related to electric vehicles and very concept of electromobility in the context of road passenger as well as road freight transport. The introductory section of the manuscript presents the most relevant information and characteristics associated with electromobility, such as breakdown of types of electric vehicles, basic competences of the electromobility system actors, potential options for its application in the field of transport, and the most significant advantages and disadvantages of such vehicles. The second chapter elaborates a brief overview of existing literature sources, such as research studies, electronic scientific papers, conference papers and other publications, regarding the concept of electromobility in terms of road passenger and freight transport. The third and fourth chapter, as the most important manuscript part, describes and processes the data in relation to prediction of electromobility development in both investigated modes of transport, as well as partial results in regard to electromobility and relevant discussion.

Mária Stopková

Papers

Approach Methodology for Comprehensive Assessing the Public Passenger Transport Timetable Performances at a Regional Scale

Application of the Operational Research Method to Determine the Optimum Transport Collection Cycle of Municipal Waste in a Predesignated Urban Area

Inventory Model Design by Implementing New Parameters into the Deterministic Model Objective Function to Streamline Effectiveness Indicators of the Inventory Management

Using the Operations Research Methods to Address Distribution Tasks at a City Logistics Scale

Development Trends of Electric Vehicles in the Context of Road Passenger and Freight Transport