Assessment of alternative fuel vehicles for sustainable road transportation of United States using integrated fuzzy FUCOM and neutrosophic fuzzy MARCOS methodology

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Sep 20:788:147763. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147763. Epub 2021 May 15.

Abstract

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are one of the biggest challenging environmental problems globally, which leads countries to reduce their environmental impact in various disciplines. One of the most negative effects on the environment can be seen in the transportation area. It has been seen as a promising way to reduce emissions from transport with various alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). This study aims to develop a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methodology to prioritize the various AFVs for sustainable transport. The assessment of AFVs can be considered an MCDM problem due to the involvement of several conflicting criteria. We thus develop a novel multi-criteria decision-making methodology based on fuzzy Full Consistency Method (FUCOM-F) and neutrosophic fuzzy Measurement Alternatives and Ranking according to the COmpromise Solution (MARCOS) framework for the assessment of the AFVs. The proposed methodology is applied to prioritize the various AFVs in New Jersey, U.S. According to the findings, the most significant drivers for AFV selection are purchase cost, energy cost, and social benefits, respectively. The evaluation results also show that electric vehicles can serve as an effective approach to reducing carbon emissions for New Jersey. In addition, a comparative analysis is conducted to indicate the out-performance of the proposed multi-criteria methodology.

Keywords: Alternative fuel vehicles; Fuzzy FUCOM; GHG emissions; MARCOS; Neutrosophic fuzzy sets; Sustainable road transportation.