Abstract: This study developed a novel Double Synchronized Vehicle Routing Problem (DSVRP) framework to address the problem of rural electric vehicle (EV) fleet delivery problem, to address the low rural EV adoption rates. The DSVRP formulation couples the operations of resupplying goods and performing a battery swap on the EV fleet into a single synchronization operation by using a single resupply vehicle, effectively increasing the operation range of the EV fleet. Additionally, the incorporation of the battery swap as an alternative to traditional charging using fixed charging stations reduces the reliance of EV adoption on charging infrastructure. This model successfully optimized smaller instances (node ≤ 10), but larger instances showed poor scaling. To obtain high quality solutions for larger instances, a metaheuristic comparison framework was developed. The framework was utilized to compare seven methods (Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search (ALNS), Tabu Search (TS), Simulated Annealing (SA), Gravity Search (GS), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)) with diverse solution strategies to identify the most efficient solution strategy to solve the DSVRP model. The results of the comparison framework produced efficient large-scale solutions of the DSVRP.

Habeeb Mohammed is a PhD candidate in Industrial & Systems Engineering at North Carolina A&T State University, with research focus in Transportation safety, Pedestrian behavior, and Emergency response. Habeeb holds a bachelor’s degree in Process Engineering from the University of Ghana and a master’s degree in Industrial & Systems Engineering from Marmara University in Turkey. Habeeb has been a member of the IISE since 2022 and has had the opportunity of presenting his work at other conferences including the prestigious Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting and at INFORMS, both in the USA.

Outside of his academic work, Habeeb is an active member of his community by contributing his time to volunteering activities within and outside campus. He served as a resident advisor for the 2025 summer high school transportation institute hosted by North Carolina A&T, where he helped in planning and facilitating discussions, workshops, and recreational events while ensuring the well-being, safety, and positive experience of students. Habeeb is also a regular volunteer at the Second Harvest food bank in Greensboro, NC. In April 2023, his work was recognized by the Office of Leadership and Civic Engagement at North Carolina A&T State University, where he was named a Transcending Leader. He received a medal of honor and a certificate of excellence for his outstanding contributions in leadership and civic engagement within his community.