Gilbert Laporte, HEC Montreal
"Goods Distribution with Electric Vehicles"

Abstract
I will survey several aspects related to goods distribution by electric vehicles (EVs). This includes information on the purchase cost of EVs, market shares, adoption by companies, technical considerations regarding batteries, cost competitiveness, and adoption incentives. This will be followed by an overview of current research in the area of transportation science, and by research perspectives at the strategic, tactical and operational levels.

Bio
Gilbert Laporte obtained his Ph.D. in Operations Research at the London School of Economics in 1975. He is professor of Operations Research at HEC Montréal, Canada Research Chair in Distribution Management, adjunct Professor at Molde University College, Bilkent University and the University of Alberta, visiting professor at the University of Southampton, and distinguished professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology. He is also a member of the Interuniversity Research Centre on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation (CIRRELT) and founding member of the Group for Research in Decision Analysis (GERAD). He has been Editor of Transportation Science, Computers & Operations Research and INFOR. He has authored or coauthored 19 books, as well as more than 500 scientific articles in combinatorial optimization, mostly in the areas of vehicle routing, location and timetabling. Gilbert Laporte has received many scientific awards including the Pergamon Prize (United Kingdom) in 1987, the 1994 Award of Merit from the Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS), and the CORS Practice Prize on four occasions. In 1999, he obtained the Jacques-Rousseau Prize for Interdisciplinarity from the Association canadienne-française pour l’avancement des sciences (Acfas), and the President’s Medal from the Operational Research Society (United Kingdom). In 2001, he was awarded the Grand Prize for Teaching Excellence by HEC Montréal. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada since 1998, and a Fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) since 2005. In 2005, he was the co-winner of the Glover-Klingman Prize. In 2007 he was awarded the Innis-Gérin Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. In 2009 he received the Gérard-Parizeau Award, he was inducted as the 42nd Honorary Member of the INFORMS International Omega Rho Society, and he received the Robert Herman Lifetime Achievement Award in Transportation Science from the Transportation Science and Logistics Section of INFORMS. In 2012, he won the Pierre-Laurin Award from HEC Montréal for his overall career research achievements. In 2014, he was the co-winner of the FICO Global “Optimize the Real World” contest and he received the Lifetime Achievement in Location Analysis Award from the INFORMS Section on Location Analysis. In 2016 the Eindhoven University of Technology awarded him a Doctorate Honoris Causa and he received the Acfas Urgel-Archambault Prize in physical sciences, mathematics, computer science or engineering. He obtained the FRQNT 2016-2017 Excellence Award.