Selection of electric bus models using 2-tuple linguistic T-spherical fuzzy-based decision-making model

Abstract

Due to energy's global reliance on fossil fuels and population growth, Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and their repercussions have attracted attention. Due to their cheaper cost and cleaner environment, renewable energy modes of transportation like electric vehicles are highly sought after. Electric vehicles are beneficial, but they also emit emissions indirectly in power plants that generate their electricity, which could affect small and medium communities. Thus, it is crucial to assess such modes of transportation's performance while considering key aspects and criteria. However, scholarly works in this field have not fully addressed the deployment of a comprehensive electric vehicle decision-making support system. This study addresses electric bus selection by introducing a novel approach to Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) utilizing a developed integrated fuzzy set. We introduce an integrated approach that combines an Entropy weighting approach with a 2-tuple Linguistic T-Spherical Fuzzy Decision by Opinion Score Method (2TLTS-FDOSM). This approach is designed to tackle the challenges associated with evaluating the feasibility of electric bus models (EBMs) and addressing the theoretical challenge of MCDM in the context of the presented case study. These challenges include dealing with ambiguities and inconsistencies among decision-makers. The former method is utilized to ascertain the significance of assessment criteria, whereas the latter approach is applied to select the most favorable EBM by utilizing the weights obtained. As for the 2TLTS-FDOSM results, out of all the (n = 6) EBMs considered, A3 (11-E) EBM obtained the highest score value, while the A3 (9-E) EBM had the lowest score. The robustness of the results is confirmed through sensitivity analysis.