This study aims at reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions caused by drayage operations in port areas. Due to globalization and economic prosperity, freight movements have been increasing during the past decades. In port areas, a large portion of freight movements is made by trucks, causing significant negative impacts on traffic conditions, energy consumption, and GHG emissions. In the last decade, battery-powered vehicles have become an emerging topic, but only limited research attention has been paid to Battery Electric Heavy-Duty Trucks (BEHDT) in drayage operation. Addressing this understudied but promising field, we examine the research potential of using BEHDTs for daily container movements by proposing mathematical formulations, developing solution methodologies, and building simulation testbeds to evaluate transportation systems. Meanwhile, given that the most challenging issue for using BEHDTs is the battery life, we also consider the current status and future development trend of the battery industry. We will estimate the impacts of using BEHDTs from 2022 to 2050. The freight movement problem will be decomposed into two subproblems. The first is figuring out the minimum cost flow for demand satisfaction. The second solves a bin-packing problem based on a flow solution, which also considers the BEHDTs’ charging plans with range constraints. The numerical experiments are conducted with real-world data which can provide quantitative comparison in terms of truck travel costs, fleet size, and GHG emissions. Sensitivity analysis will be performed under different mixtures of diesel trucks and BEHDTs.

Keywords
Battery Electric Heavy-Duty Trucks, Drayage Operations, Emissions, Traffic Simulation, Charging Planning