{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,9]],"date-time":"2026-04-09T21:40:43Z","timestamp":1775770843659,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,9]],"date-time":"2025-05-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1746748800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["51805152"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["51805152"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["52475528"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52475528"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["GCRC2020009"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GCRC2020009"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["2023BEB043"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023BEB043"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["BSQD2022002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BSQD2022002"]}]},{"name":"Scientific Research Foundation for High-level Talents of Hubei University of Technology","award":["51805152"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["51805152"]}]},{"name":"Scientific Research Foundation for High-level Talents of Hubei University of Technology","award":["52475528"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52475528"]}]},{"name":"Scientific Research Foundation for High-level Talents of Hubei University of Technology","award":["GCRC2020009"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GCRC2020009"]}]},{"name":"Scientific Research Foundation for High-level Talents of Hubei University of Technology","award":["2023BEB043"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023BEB043"]}]},{"name":"Scientific Research Foundation for High-level Talents of Hubei University of Technology","award":["BSQD2022002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BSQD2022002"]}]},{"name":"Key R&amp;D Program of Hubei Province","award":["51805152"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["51805152"]}]},{"name":"Key R&amp;D Program of Hubei Province","award":["52475528"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52475528"]}]},{"name":"Key R&amp;D Program of Hubei Province","award":["GCRC2020009"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GCRC2020009"]}]},{"name":"Key R&amp;D Program of Hubei Province","award":["2023BEB043"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023BEB043"]}]},{"name":"Key R&amp;D Program of Hubei Province","award":["BSQD2022002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BSQD2022002"]}]},{"name":"Doctoral Scientific Research Foundation of Hubei University of Technology","award":["51805152"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["51805152"]}]},{"name":"Doctoral Scientific Research Foundation of Hubei University of Technology","award":["52475528"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52475528"]}]},{"name":"Doctoral Scientific Research Foundation of Hubei University of Technology","award":["GCRC2020009"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GCRC2020009"]}]},{"name":"Doctoral Scientific Research Foundation of Hubei University of Technology","award":["2023BEB043"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023BEB043"]}]},{"name":"Doctoral Scientific Research Foundation of Hubei University of Technology","award":["BSQD2022002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BSQD2022002"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Symmetry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>To advance energy conservation and emissions reduction in urban logistics systems, this study focuses on the green vehicle routing problems with time windows (GVRPTWs), which remains underexplored in balancing environmental and service quality objectives. We propose a comprehensive multi-objective optimization framework that addresses this gap by simultaneously minimizing total distribution costs and carbon emissions while maximizing customer satisfaction, quantified based on the vehicle\u2019s arrival time at the customer location. The rationale for adopting this tri-objective formulation lies in its ability to reflect real-world trade-offs between economic efficiency, environmental performance, and service level, which are often considered in isolation in previous studies. To tackle this complex problem, we develop an improved Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm III (NSGA-III) that incorporates three key enhancements: (1) an integer-encoded initialization method to enhance solution feasibility, (2) a refined selection strategy utilizing crowding distance to maintain population diversity, and (3) an embedded 2-opt local search operator to prevent premature convergence and avoid local optima. Comprehensive validation experiments using Solomon\u2019s benchmark instances and a real-world case demonstrate that the presented algorithm consistently outperforms several state-of-the-art multi-objective optimization methods across key performance metrics. These results highlight the effectiveness and practical relevance of our approach in advancing energy-efficient, low-emission, and customer-centric urban logistics systems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/sym17050734","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,9]],"date-time":"2025-05-09T11:25:53Z","timestamp":1746789953000},"page":"734","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Research on Multi-Objective Green Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows Based on the Improved Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm III"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5796-3479","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xixing","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China"},{"name":"Hubei Key Laboratory of Modern Manufacturing Quality Engineering, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China"}]},{"given":"Chao","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8361-0864","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jipeng","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China"},{"name":"Hubei Key Laboratory of Modern Manufacturing Quality Engineering, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5027-8316","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hongtao","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China"},{"name":"Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1090-1948","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tian","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electro-Mechanical Engineering, Yangling Vocational and Technical College, Xianyang 712100, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-9030-4613","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fenglian","family":"Yuan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Information Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang 330063, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"203","article-title":"Green vehicle routing problem: A state-of-the-art review","volume":"9","author":"Asghari","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. 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