Efficiency of light electric vehicles in last mile deliveries – Szczecin case study

Abstract

City users gladly apply comfortable and time-saving e-commerce solutions as an alternative to traditional purchase. The present pandemic crisis made this issue even more important. It significantly increased the number of transport operations within the city area, as each order has to be delivered directly to the purchaser. Consequently, city authorities are confronted with the important challenge: how to fulfil the expectations and needs of city users in the context of transport system functioning in view of reducing the negative impacts of urban freight transport in terms of safety, air pollution or noise. This is one of the most important elements of social sustainability in cities. One of the solutions that help reduce the negative environmental impacts of urban freight transport is making use of vehicles that produce less air pollution, such as electric vans. It proved to be very effective in decreasing transportation footprint by reducing local emissions of e.g. PM or NOx. However, one of the key limitations is the potential short driving range of such vehicles, which results from the battery capacity and charging infrastructure availability. In recent years, some analyses related to that issue have been made. Nevertheless, the studies have taken into account passenger cars only. This paper presents the results of the research study aimed at verification of electric vans energy efficiency in real-life conditions, i.e. when delivering courier consignments. The electric van used for the purposes of the experiment was Nissan eNV200. This paper fulfils the important knowledge gap and could be helpful from both theoretical and practical perspectives. It should be emphasised that the experiment was carried out in real-life conditions, i.e. in the course of performing business processes in one of the worldwide known CEP companies. The research study was carried out under the EUFAL international project, funded under the Electric Mobility Europe programme. The results of the research shown high potential of electric vehicles and usefulness of electromobility in last mile deliveries. The business partner of the research is now on the stage of electric freight vehicles implementation into vehicles fleets.