Title: Three Roads to Low-Emission Long-Haul Trucking: An Optimization Perspective
题目：长途卡车运输低排放的三种路径：一种优化视角
时间：2026年9月7日（周一）上午9:30
主讲人：Prof. Dr. Nils Boysen
Bio: After some industry practice at IBM Global Services, Nils joined the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena (Germany) in 2008, where he became a full professor for operations management. His main research interests are in the fields of facility logistics, warehousing, transportation, and automobile production. To solve industry problems in these areas, Nils applies mathematical modelling and combinatorial optimization techniques, always based on a thorough analysis of computational complexity. He has published over 150 research papers in many of the top optimization and logistics journals, such as Management Science, INFORMS Journal on Computing, and Transportation Science. Among others he is a member of the editorial boards of Transportation Science and EJOR as well as department editor for OR Spectrum.
Abstract:
Long-haul trucking remains a major challenge for transport decarbonization. Although several technologies promise substantial emission reductions, their technical potential does not necessarily translate into equivalent savings under real-world operating conditions. This talk examines three pathways toward lower-emission long-haul trucking from an operations research perspective: truck platooning, charge-while-driving infrastructure, and range-extending battery trailers. For each pathway, we formulate the underlying operational decision problem and investigate how practical constraints reduce the theoretically attainable benefits. In truck platooning, fuel savings depend on the availability of compatible partners and sufficient flexibility in departure times. For charge-while-driving technologies, optimization can identify particularly valuable road segments and substantially reduce the required extent of electrification, although infrastructure costs remain considerable. Battery trailers offer high technical emission-reduction potential and may prolong the use of existing diesel fleets, but synchronization, charging, and trailer availability lead to unsupported journeys and significant operational losses. The comparison shows that technological emission-reduction estimates should be interpreted as upper bounds. Operations research is required to determine how much of this potential survives constraints related to timing, routing, infrastructure, and resource availability. The results suggest that platooning is mainly an incremental measure, partial road electrification may be attractive for dense freight corridors, and battery trailers can serve as a transitional technology. More broadly, the analysis indicates that the most promising long-term pathway is likely vehicle-based, infrastructure-light, and compatible with broadly available charging infrastructure.