Routing of Photovoltaic Integrated Solid Waste Collection Vehicles

vehicle-integrated photovoltaics (VIPV) is recognized as the next-generation electric vehicle technology. Equipped with photovoltaics solar panels, VIPVs are capable of generating on-road solar energy to self-power their drive. This paper studies an application scenario of VIPVs in municipal services, i.e., using VIPVs as solid waste collection vehicles. Specifically, this paper devises a routing strategy to determine the route of a VIPV-based waste collection vehicle to complete the waste collection task in a road network, taking into account its ability of converting the on-road solar irradiance it receives into electricity. Numerical simulation and comparison study are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed routing strategy as well as the energy benefits that can be brought by the VIPV technology for waste management.