Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Electrifying Last-Mile Deliveries: A Carbon Footprint Comparison between Internal Combustion Engine and Electric Vehicles

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Smart Cities (Smart-CT 2016)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 9704))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Last-mile management distribution is a growing challenge in big cities that affects to quality of life of many citizens. A way to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and congestion, as well as to promote and develop Smart Cities, is electrifying urban distribution by means of electric tricycles. This article evaluates the GHG of a tricycle logistics company (B-Line) in downtown Portland, OR. The goal is to analyze carbon footprint potential savings between electric tricycle last-mile distribution against a traditional diesel-powered van system. Real-world GPS and warehouse data were collected to assess B-Line operations. Results show a huge GHG emissions reduction, being tricycle logistic system twice more efficient that the traditional one.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. World Trade Organization: World Trade Report 2014 (2015). https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/world_trade_report14_e.pdf. Accessed Feb 2016

  2. United Nations: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (2014). http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2014-Report.pdf. Accessed Feb 2016

  3. Lin, J., Chen, Q., Kawamura, K.: Environmental and energy benefits of freight delivery in consolidation in Urban Areas. National Center for Freight & Infrastructure Research & Education, Madison (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  4. National Cooperative Freight Research Program: Synthesis of Freight Research in Urban Distribution Planning, Report 23 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Laffont, J.: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Russo, F., Comi, A.: City characteristics and urban goods movements: a way to environmental transportation system in a sustainable city. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 39, 61–73 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Demir, E., Huang, Y., Scholts, S., Van Woensel, T.: A selected review on the negative externalities of the freight transportation: modeling and pricing. Transp. Res. Part E 77, 95–114 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bernard, S.M., Samet, J.M., Grambsch, A., Ebi, K., Romieu, I.: The potential impacts of climate variability and change on air pollution-related health effects in the United States. Environ. Health Perspect. 109, 199–209 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Tan, K., Htet, K., Narayanan, A.: Mitigation of vehicle distribution in an EV sharing scheme for last mile transportation. Intell. Transp. Syst. 5(16), 2631–2641 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Schoemaker, J., Allen, J., Huschebek, M., Monigl, J.: Quantification of urban freight transport effects I. BESTUFS Consortium (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Lee, D.-Y., Thomas, V.M., Brown, M.A.: Electric urban delivery trucks: energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and cost-effectiveness. Environ. Sci. Technol. 47, 8022–8030 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. U.S. DOE: FedEx Express Gasoline Hybrid Electric Delivery Truck Evaluation: 12-Month Report. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Martin, C.: Battery-Powered Trucks: Toys No More. Bloomerang Businesweek (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Calvillo, C., Sánchez-Miralles, A., Villar, J.: Energy management and planning in smart cities. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 55, 273–287 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Tipagornwong, C., Figliozzi, M.: Analysis of competitiveness of freight tricycle delivery services in urban areas. Transp. Res. Rec. J. Transp. Res. Board 2410, 76–84 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Asdrubali, F., Baldinelli, G., D’Alessandro, F., Scrucca, F.: Life cycle assessment of electricity production from renewable energies: review and results harmonization. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 42, 1113–1122 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. B-Line: B-Line Sustainable Urban Delivery. http://b-linepdx.com/. Accessed Feb 2016

  18. Juan, A., Mendez, C., Faulin, J., de Armas, J., Grasman, S.: Electric vehicles in logistics and transportation: a survey on emerging environmental, strategic and operational challenges. Energies 86(9), 1–21 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Mathiesen, B., Lund, H., Connolly, D., Wenzel, H., Østergaard, P., Möller, B., Hvelplund, F.: Smart energy systems for coherent 100 % renewable energy and transport solutions. Appl. Energy 145, 139–154 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Jhala, K., Natarajan, B., Pahwa, A., Erickson, L.: Coordinated electric vehicle charging solutions using renewable energy sources. In: Computational Intelligence Applications in Smart Grid (CIASG), pp. 1–6 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Sierzchula, W., Bakker, S., Maat, K., Wee, B.: The influence of financial incentives and other socio-economic factors on electric vehicle adoption. Energ. Policy 68, 183–194 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Poullikkas, A.: Sustainable options for electric vehicle technologies. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 41, 1277–1287 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Salah, F., Ilg, J., Flath, C., Basse, H., Van Dinther, C.: Impact of electric vehicles on distribution substations: a Swiss case study. Appl. Energy 137, 88–96 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Schliwa, G., Armitage, R., Aziz, S., Evans, J., Rhoades, J.: Sustainable city logistics - making cargo cycles viable for urban freight transport. Res. Transp. Bus. Manag. 15, 50–57 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. De Decker, K.: Cargo cyclist replace truck drivers on European city streets. http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2012/09/jobs-of-the-future-cargo-cyclist.html. Accessed Feb 2016

  26. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: IPCC Third Asessment Report: Climate Change 2001 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  27. GHG Protocol: Greenhouse Gas Protocol. http://www.ghgprotocol.org/about-ghgp. Accessed Feb 2016

  28. Feng, W., Figliozzi, M.: Conventional vs electric commercial vehicle fleets: a case study of economic and technological factors affecting the competitiveness of electric commercial vehicles in the USA. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 39, 702–711 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Wilson, D., Papadopoulos, J., Whitt, F.R.: Bicycling Science. MIT Press, Cambridge (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Saenz, J., Figliozzi, M., Faulin, J.: An assessment of the carbon footprint reductions of tricycle logistics services. Transportation Research Record (2016, forthcoming)

    Google Scholar 

  31. U.S. EPA: United States Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/. Accessed Feb 2016

  32. U.S. EPA: eGRID Clean Energy. http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/egrid/. Accessed Feb 2016

  33. US Environmental Protection Agency: How to use eGRID for Carbon Footprinting Electricity Purcharses in Greenhouse Gas emission inventories (2015). http://www.epa.gov/ttnchie1/conference/ei20/session3/adiem.pdf. Accessed Feb 2016

  34. Environmental Protection Agency: Greenhouse Gas Emissios from a Typical Passenger Vehicle (2014). http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/documents/420f14040a.pdf. Accessed Feb 2016

  35. Stevens, J.W., Corey, G.P.: A study of lead-acid battery efficiency near top-of-charge and the impact on PV system design. In: Conference Record of the Twenty Fifth IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, pp. 1485–1488 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Browne, M., Allen, J., Leonardi, J.: Evaluating the use of an urban consolidation center and electric vehicles in central London. IATSS Res. 35, 1–6 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grants TRA2013-48180-C3-P and TRA2015-71883-REDT), and the Ibero-American Program for Science and Technology for Development (CYTED2014-515RT0489). Likewise we want to acknowledge the support received by the CAN Foundation in Navarre, Spain (Grant CAN2014-3758).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Statistics and OR, Public University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

    Jesus Saenz-Esteruelas, Adrian Serrano & Javier Faulin

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA

    Miguel Figliozzi

Authors
  1. Jesus Saenz-Esteruelas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Miguel Figliozzi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Adrian Serrano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Javier Faulin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jesus Saenz-Esteruelas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain

    Enrique Alba

  2. Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain

    Francisco Chicano

  3. Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain

    Gabriel Luque

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Saenz-Esteruelas, J., Figliozzi, M., Serrano, A., Faulin, J. (2016). Electrifying Last-Mile Deliveries: A Carbon Footprint Comparison between Internal Combustion Engine and Electric Vehicles. In: Alba, E., Chicano, F., Luque, G. (eds) Smart Cities. Smart-CT 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9704. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39595-1_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39595-1_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39594-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39595-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation