Journal
ENERGIES
Volume 14, Issue 15, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/en14154672
Keywords
city logistics; last mile distribution; electric cargo bikes; modular design
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This paper presents a proposal for using modular electric cargo bikes in urban delivery services to optimize system performance. The focus is on vehicle design and selecting the best configuration to enhance the efficiency of city distribution systems.
The implementation of new forms of urban mobility is a fundamental challenge for improving the performance of city logistic systems in terms of efficiency and sustainability. For such purposes, the exploitation of electric vehicles is currently being investigated as an alternative to traditional internal combustion engines. In particular, the employment of lightweight electric cargo bikes is seen as an attractive possibility for designing improved city distribution systems. Such vehicles, however, present substantial limitations related to their endurance, speed, power, and recharging times; therefore, their configuration must be optimized considering the actual operational context and the specific characteristics of the service operated. This paper proposes the employment of modular electric cargo bikes for urban parcel delivery, with the possibility of customizing some features of the vehicle in order to optimize the performance of the system. This research initially focuses on the design of the modular vehicle and subsequently on the selection of the best configuration through a multi criteria decision method. A numerical application demonstrates the effectiveness of the approach proposed by analysing different design options and determining the most efficient solution in a specific context.
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