Calculator Inputs
Use the responsive grid below. It displays as three columns on large screens, two on medium screens, and one on mobile.
Example Data Table
| Stop Name | X | Y | Demand | Service Time (min) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop A | 12 | 8 | 120 | 15 |
| Stop B | 18 | 14 | 90 | 10 |
| Stop C | 6 | 17 | 75 | 12 |
| Stop D | 24 | 9 | 140 | 18 |
| Stop E | 15 | 22 | 60 | 8 |
| Stop F | 9 | 27 | 110 | 16 |
These sample rows match the prefilled textarea values and can be edited for real planning cases.
Formula Used
Distance = √[(x2 − x1)² + (y2 − y1)²]
Adjusted Distance = Base Distance × Road Distance Factor
Travel Time = (Adjusted Distance ÷ Average Speed) × Traffic Time Factor
Fuel Liters = Total Route Distance ÷ Fuel Efficiency
Route Cost = Fuel Cost + Driver Cost + Fixed Vehicle Cost
CO2 Emissions = Fuel Liters × Emission Factor
Capacity Utilization (%) = (Route Payload ÷ Vehicle Capacity) × 100
The optimizer applies a nearest-neighbor route-building heuristic, then enforces maximum stops and vehicle capacity constraints to split work across vehicles.
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter the depot coordinates where all vehicles start and finish.
- Provide operating assumptions such as speed, fuel efficiency, driver cost, traffic factor, and fixed vehicle cost.
- Set vehicle capacity and the maximum stops allowed per vehicle.
- Paste stop rows in the textarea using the format Name,X,Y,Demand,ServiceMinutes.
- Click Optimize Fleet Routes to generate the route plan.
- Review the summary, route table, detailed legs, and plotted route graph.
- Download the result as CSV or PDF for reporting and planning.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What method does this optimizer use?
It uses a nearest-neighbor heuristic. The calculator repeatedly selects the nearest feasible unvisited stop while respecting vehicle capacity and maximum stop limits.
2. Does it solve the exact vehicle routing problem?
No. It produces a practical engineering estimate quickly. Exact vehicle routing often needs heavier optimization libraries, more constraints, and longer computation time.
3. What do the X and Y coordinates represent?
They represent stop positions on a planning grid. These can be map-derived coordinates, plant layout points, or normalized routing coordinates from another system.
4. Why use a road distance factor?
Straight-line distance is rarely drivable. The road distance factor inflates base distance to better reflect real streets, network detours, and routing inefficiencies.
5. Why use a traffic time factor?
Traffic often changes time more than distance. This factor adjusts travel duration without changing the physical route length used for fuel and distance totals.
6. Can I model stop service time separately?
Yes. Each stop row can include its own service minutes. If omitted, the calculator applies the default service time from the form.
7. What does the baseline comparison mean?
The baseline assumes one direct round trip per stop. It is a simple reference case for estimating distance and cost savings from grouped routing.
8. When should I use this calculator?
Use it for early-stage fleet planning, distribution studies, depot workload checks, budgeting, and comparing route assumptions before deploying specialized routing software.