A metaheuristic for the capacity-pricing problem in the car rental business

A atenção ao problema de capacidade-preço no aluguer de carros tem vindo a aumentar à medida que as empresas começaram a investir em ferramentas avançadas de apoio à decisão para essas questões críticas. Ao planear um período de vendas, uma empresa deve decidir o número e o tipo de veículos necessários na sua frota de forma a atender à procura. A procura pelos veículos para aluguer é altamente sensível ao preço e, portanto, as decisões de capacidade e preço estão intimamente ligadas. Além disso, como os produtos são alugados, a capacidade "volta". Isso cria uma ligação entre a capacidade, a mobilização da frota e outras ferramentas que permitem à empresa atender à procura, tal como upgrades, transferência de veículos entre locais ou aluguer temporário de veículos adicionais. O impacto da solução desse complexo problema no lucro de uma empresa já foi estimado e avaliado, mas quando são tidos em conta os problemas do mundo real, o tamanho e a complexidade do problema tornam os métodos existentes lentos e inadequados para fornecer soluções num prazo razoável. O principal objetivo deste projeto é então selecionar, projetar e desenvolver uma meta-heurística eficiente que forneça boas soluções em curtos períodos de tempo.The capacity-pricing problem in car rental has increasingly been stepping in the spotlight as companies began investing in advanced decision-support tools for these critical issues. When planning a sales period, a company must decide the number and type of vehicles needed in its fleet in order to meet demand. The demand for rental vehicles is particularly price-sensitive and therefore capacity and pricing decisions are closely linked. In addition, as the products are rented, the capacity "returns". This creates an association between capacity, fleet mobilization and other tools that allow the company to meet demand, such as upgrades, transferring vehicles between locations or the temporary leasing of additional vehicles. The impact of solving this complex problem on a company's profit has already been estimated and evaluated, but when real-world problems are taken into account, the size and complexity of the problem makes existing methods slow and inadequate to provide solutions within a reasonable time. Therefore, the main objective of this dissertation is then to select, design and develop an efficient metaheuristic that provides similar or better results than the ones obtained in the literature

Impact of environmental concerns on the capacity-pricing problem in the car rental business

Redefinition of a mathematical model implemented to solve the problem of capacity-pricing in car rental. To this model, environmental aspects were studied and added in order to study their influence on the results of that same model. In order to optimize this multi objective function some methodologies are applied such as a weighted sum or the epsilon constraint

Invest in fast-charging infrastructure or in longer battery ranges? A cost-efficiency comparison for Germany

To reach ambitious CO₂ mitigation targets, the transport sector has to become nearly emission-free and the most promising option for passenger cars are battery electric vehicles (BEV) powered using renewable energy. Despite their important benefits, BEV still face technological barriers, mainly their limited battery range and the limited availability of public fast-charging infrastructure. These factors are hindering the diffusion of electric vehicles (EV). The question of how to address these technical barriers has been widely analyzed in the literature, but so far there has been no cost-efficiency comparison of longer battery ranges and more widespread fast-charging infrastructure that evaluates them both technically and economically. This paper aims to find cost-efficient ways to address limited battery ranges and availability of public fast-charging infrastructure. We focus on German passenger cars that are licensed to commercial owners, since these are an important first market for EV. Our results indicate that fast-charging infrastructure is very cost-efficient as it enables significant proportions of BEV in the fleet at low infrastructure density. The technically feasible maximum BEV shares in the commercial sector can only be achieved with longer battery ranges. However, longer battery ranges are currently associated with comparatively high additional costs

Analysis of fleet management outsourcing in the public sector.

Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.This study investigates fleet outsourcing in government from a strategic perspective as it is integrated into the overall strategy of the Department of Transport. This study attempts to overcome some of the problems associated with outsourcing by integrating a number of key aspects of outsourcing including a value chain perspective, core competency thinking and supply base influences into the decision-making process. The background of the research highlights the status quo and examples of similar fleet management projects in Government. These include major projects in National Government, Telkom and City of Johannesburg. The research is motivated by the need for government to find new ways, with limited resources, to achieve maximum efficiency in fleet management by managing these resources and related risks. The value of the research is a holistic approach to the analysis of fleet management the public sector has never been undertaken. The study will also help the state to recognise the impact fleet management has on the state's core activities and offer a tool for measuring fleet management performance. The research methodology is qualitative and will be based on a case study approach, which is associated with the exploratory nature of this study. Outsourcing is justifiable if visible costs decrease, service improves and economies of scale are achieved