Philippe Lebeau

Conventional, Hybrid, or Electric Vehicles: Which Technology for an Urban Distribution Centre?

Freight transport has an important impact on urban welfare. It is estimated to be responsible for 25% of CO2 emissions and up to 50% of particles matters generated by the transport sector in cities. Facing that problem, the European Commission set the objective of reaching free CO2 city logistics by 2030 in major urban areas. In order to achieve this goal, electric vehicles could be an important part of the solution. However, this technology still faces a number of barriers, in particular high purchase costs and limited driving range. This paper explores the possible integration of electric vehicles in urban logistics operations. In order to answer this research question, the authors have developed a fleet size and mix vehicle routing problem with time windows for electric vehicles. In particular, an energy consumption model is integrated in order to consider variable range of electric vehicles. Based on generated instances, the authors analyse different sets of vehicles in terms of vehicle class (quadricycles, small vans, large vans, and trucks) and vehicle technology (petrol, hybrid, diesel, and electric vehicles). Results show that a fleet with different technologies has the opportunity of reducing costs of the last mile.

Electric versus conventional vehicles for logistics: A total cost of ownership

Today, different measures are investigated to solve the challenge of a sustainable urban freight transport. Among them, electric vehicles are often viewed as an interesting solution but the purchase cost of these vehicles is commonly seen as a barrier to their adoption. However the different cost structure between electric and conventional vehicles makes an analysis of every cost particularly needed if fleet managers want to assess the real competitiveness of the vehicles. As a result, we developed a total cost of ownership model to assess the competitiveness of light commercial vehicles in the Brussels-Capital Region. This paper presents the results of the total cost of ownership analysis on 8 battery electric vehicles, 5 diesel vehicles and 2 petrol vehicles. The results of a sensitivity analysis of the model are also presented. The electric vehicles were found to be competitive with conventional vehicles in the category of the quadricycles and the light commercial vehicles with a payload lower than 1,000kg: five out of six battery electric vehicles had a cost lower than the conventional vehicles of their category. The situation is inverted for the battery electric vehicles with a payload above 1,000kg where the costs are always higher than the conventional vehicles because of the expensive purchase and battery costs. Since battery electric vehicles are found to be a viable solution for some parts of the logistics, the next challenge should be to convince the fleet managers of the benefits of battery electric vehicles.

Implementing electric vehicles in urban distribution: A discrete event simulation

Urban freight transport becomes increasingly important with the development of cities. However, it generates also inefficiencies on social, economic and environmental aspects. A possible solution is the use of urban distribution centres in order to rationalise the deliveries and to operate the last miles with clean vehicles. Electric vehicles are gaining attention lately but some barriers remain. Since costs barriers were already investigated, the paper aimed at evaluating the difference of performances between a centre using a diesel truck and a centre using an electric vehicle. In order to do so, the operations of an urban distribution centre were modelled in a discrete event simulation and different scenarios were evaluated. The results showed that replacing a conventional truck by an electric van generates more traffic due to the limited payload of the van. However, the limited range does not entail the daily operations of the vehicle since a single night charge is sufficient. Better, the depth of discharge is found to be limited to a minimum of 60%. The results on the battery are similar in the second scenario where the conventional truck is replaced by an electric truck. In that scenario though, no influences are identified on the logistics performances of the urban distribution center.

How can authorities support urban consolidation centres? A review of the accompanying measures

Freight transport affects urban welfare primarily through congestion and emissions. An urban consolidation centre is regarded as a solution that can reduce those negative impacts of freight vehicles on the city. However, previous experience has demonstrated the challenge that these centres face in being self-sustaining. Given their positive effects on the city, authorities have supported these logistics schemes with different types of accompanying measures. In order to bring to practitioners an overview of these measures, the paper presents the results of a literature review where the different measures are classified according to their financial support, their regulatory support and their indirect regulatory support.