Optimal reassignment of green vehicles for improving last-mile delivery distribution in cities with low emissions zones

In this paper we tackle a problem of green vehicles reassignment for improving last-mile delivery distribution. Specifically, we consider the case of a large last-mile delivery company operating in some of the largest cities of Spain, where Low Emission Zones (LEZs) have been deployed in the last years, following an EU directive. We develop an intelligent system based on heuristics and metaheuristic algorithms which reassigns green vehicles between different cities in Spain where the company delivers. The reassignment process has been carried out in such a way that the vehicles are able to operate in the different cities considered, and it also follows a sustainability criterion, based on minimizing the distance of the vehicles reassignment. The results obtained show the performance of the proposed algorithms in this particular problem, and what is the effect of the reassignments in the performance of last-mile delivery in the cities considered. • We tackle a problem of green vehicles reassignment for improving last-mile delivery distribution. • Cities in which low emissions zones have been deployed are considered. • The vehicles reassignment must fulfill low emissions zones labels at the destiny. • The reassignment is also based on the minimization of a traveling distance metric.