Delivery Windows + EV Charging Stops: A Practical Scheduling Model

Rethinking the Route Around the Battery, Not the Other Way Around

For a small delivery fleet running electric vans into Dutch city centres, the milieuzone rules solve one problem and create another. Emission-free access into low-emission zones is straightforward once the vehicle qualifies, but the operational challenge shifts to range. A van that comfortably covers a full day of stop-and-go urban delivery on a full charge may struggle once cold weather, heavier loads, or a longer-than-planned detour eat into the buffer. The scheduling question is no longer just "which stops fit in the delivery window," but "where does the van sit still for twenty minutes without wrecking the rest of the day."

Opportunity charging — short top-ups at a depot, a partner site, or a public charger near a delivery cluster — is the practical answer for most small fleets that can't justify overnight-only charging with a large buffer vehicle. But bolting charging stops onto an existing route plan after the fact almost always fails, because the stop competes directly with customer time windows that were already tight.

Treat Charging Windows as Fixed Appointments, Not Filler

The most reliable approach is to schedule the charging stop the same way a scheduler treats a customer delivery window: as a fixed commitment with a start time, a duration, and a location, built into the route before the rest of the stops are sequenced. Rather than hoping a 15-minute gap appears naturally between two deliveries, planners should identify one or two charging locations that sit near a natural midpoint of the route — ideally close to a cluster of stops rather than isolated from them — and lock in a charging block early in the planning process.

This reframes the charging stop from a disruption into a planning constraint, similar to a loading dock's opening hours. Routes are then built around that fixed point, with morning st