Page - 90 - in Emerging Technologies for Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

Energies 2016,9, 86 vehiclesdouble-parkedorparked inrestrictedareas todiminish thewalkingdistancedelivery,having topayinmanycasesextracostsduetoparkingfines.Moreover,otheradvantagesofEVsarerelatedto the lowernoise levelproducedbytheiruse incomparisonwiththenoise levelof ICEVs[25].Many papershavebeenpublishedhighlightingthegoodpropertiesandadvantagesofEVs[26],but little workhasbeendone so far to evaluate the environmental impact of theEVsproduction itself and theelectricitypowergeneration. In fact, to thebestofourknowledge, there isnopublishedcarbon footprintcomparisonbetweencompanieswhichuse ICEVsandthoseusingEVs[27]. 2.3.Decarbonizing theLast-MileDeliveryProcesswith theUseofEVs The study and development of the EV Routing Problem, along with the variation in competitivenessdueto the introductionofEVs inhybridfleets, isa recentstudyareawithmanyreal applications. AsnoticedbyAfroditi et al. [28], this study is especially interesting in the“last-mile” deliveryprocess. Thedistributionprocess isusuallycritical in the lastmileof thesupplychain,where mostof thedifficultoperationaldecisions tomakearepresent. Ineffect, it is in this lastmilewhere moredetailscanaffect thequalityof thedeliveryservice,wheremoreroutesareformed,andwherethe direct contactwith thefinalcustomermakesacriticalmixbetweenL&Tandmarketing. Thissituation involvesanexhaustiveuseofL&Tresources toachieve theexpectingqualityof thedeliveryprocess. Anexhaustiveuseof resourcesusuallycausesmorenegativeexternalities (congestion,emissions,and noise,amongothers). Therefore, theuseofEVs in the last-mileactivitycanhelp tosignificantlyreduce the level of the aforementioned externalities. This improvement has been clearly shown inmany Europeancities suchasParis,London,orVienna[29]. Thus, theEVsarerevealedasaveryuseful tool to“decarbonize” the lastmiledeliveryprocess,althoughtheir range limitationcouldbean important disadvantage insomecases. The typical designof anEV is conceived in the shapeof a small vehicle to take advantageof its capacity and its performance according to the electric power of its battery. Nevertheless, it is alsopossible todesignEVswith the shapeof a bikewith a small electric enginehybridizedwith humanpowerpropulsion. ThesebikeEVsareusuallypresented in thewayof tricycles toprovide themwithmorecapacity.Deliveryactions in the last-mile rangeusingelectric tricyclesarebecoming increasingly common,mainly inverycongestedcities [30]. Thesevehicles clearlybenefit fromthe optionofrechargingbatterieswiththeuseofhumanpowerpropulsion. Somecompaniesshowingthis experienceinfreightdeliveriesare,amongothers: Ecopostale (Brussels,Belgium),B-line(Portland,OR, USA),LaPetiteReine (Paris,France),orTxita (SanSebastian,Spain). Somestudiesperformedbythese companiesrangethesavingsinCO2emissionsfromthe8.5tonsperyear(Ecopostale) tothe89.125tons peryear (LaPetiteReine)ofoil equivalent.Another interestingexperienceconcerningtheevaluation of results in lastmiledeliveryoptimization isdepictedbyBrowne et al. [25],whodescribedatrialof shippedgoods fromasuburbandepotservingcustomers inLondon. In their study, thefleetof ICEVs performingdeliveries inLondonwasreplacedbyEVsandtricyclesworking inaconsolidationcenter in theBritishcapital. Thenormaluseof thoseEVsisnot interferedwithbyanyfossil fuelconsumption orgreenhouseeffectduetothefact that theelectricitytheyusewasexclusivelygeneratedbyrenewable sources. Bymakingadirect comparisonbetweentheemissionswithconventional ICEVsandwith EVs, it ispossible to conclude thatCO2 emissions fell by20%ifusingstandardEVsandby54%if usingtricycles.Moreover,GNewtCargo, theoperatorof themicro-consolidationcenter, certifiedthat it ispossible tocut theCO2emissionsby62%. Similarly,Conway et al. [29]describe twocasestudies inNewYork(USA)where theuseofelectric cargocycles involvesasavingsof11–13 tons/yearofCO2 emissionsand2–2.5 lbs/yearofparticulatematter for thefirst case,and8.3 tons/yearand1.6 lbs/year, respectively, for thesecondcase. Asdiscussed inBektasandLaporte [5], the inclusionofpollutantemissions invehicle routing problemshasallowedthedesignofnewroutingmodelsandthedevelopmentofnewoptimization algorithms. Likewise, ithasgeneratedanupdatedclassificationofpollutionpricingmodels inside the VRPframework[31,32]. 90