# SynthCharge: An Electric Vehicle Routing Instance Generator with Feasibility Screening to Enable Learning-Based Optimization and Benchmarking

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.03230 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.03230/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 5 of its 21 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 3 Mar 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Datasheets for Datasets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.09010/) (2018)
- [Attention, Learn to Solve Routing Problems!](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.08475/) (2018)
- [Reinforcement Learning for Solving the Vehicle Routing Problem](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.04240/) (2018)
- [Towards Omni-generalizable Neural Methods for Vehicle Routing Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.19587/) (2023)
- [A Curriculum-Based Deep Reinforcement Learning Framework for the Electric Vehicle Routing Problem](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.15038/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The electric vehicle routing problem with time windows (EVRPTW) extends the classical VRPTW by introducing battery capacity constraints and charging station decisions. Existing benchmark datasets are often static and lack verifiable feasibility, which restricts reproducible evaluation of learning-based routing models. We introduce SynthCharge, a parametric generator that produces diverse, feasibility-screened EVRPTW instances across varying spatiotemporal configurations and scalable customer counts. While SynthCharge can currently generate large-scale instances of up to 500 customers, we focus our experiments on sizes ranging from 5 to 100 customers. Unlike static benchmark suites, SynthCharge integrates instance geometry with adaptive energy capacity scaling and range-aware charging station placement. To guarantee structural validity, the generator systematically filters out unsolvable instances through a fast feasibility screening process. Ultimately, SynthCharge provides the dynamic benchmarking infrastructure needed to systematically evaluate the robustness of emerging neural routing and data-driven approaches.