Impact of the use of electric vehicles in collaborative urban transport networks: A case study

•Goods transportation problem is studied in the context of city logistics.•Heterogeneous fleet with gasoline and electric vehicles is evaluated.•Collaboration is used to evaluate the benefits and drawbacks electric fleet of vehicles.•Environmental impact and cost are evaluated using multi-objective modeling.•The approach is validated using real-data taken from the city of Bogotá, Colombia.

Transportation is one of the essential services in cities that contribute to the quality of life. As a result, efficient methods for transport planning have become increasingly important. Decision makers have considered collaborative strategies to reduce the overall cost of the supply process and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of urban logistics systems. This paper assesses the implementation of an electric fleet of vehicles in collaborative urban distribution of goods, in order to reduce environmental impacts while maintaining a level of service. An approach using mathematical modeling with multiple objectives, for tactical and operational decision-making, is proposed to explore the relationship between the delivery cost and the sustainability impact. This approach has been validated using real-data taken from the city of Bogotá, Colombia. Similarly, theoretical experiments in other countries have been performed to analyse the impact of the use of electric vehicles in the configuration of the transport network.