Cost and Environmental Impacts of a Mixed Fleet of Vehicles

Justin Fraselle, Sabine Louise Limbourg and Laura Vidal
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Justin Fraselle: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Liege, 4000 Liège, Belgium
Sabine Louise Limbourg: HEC Management School, University of Liege, 4000 Liège, Belgium
Laura Vidal: HEC Management School, University of Liege, 4000 Liège, Belgium

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-16

Abstract: Urban parcel delivery is increasingly restricted by regulations limiting access to certain heavy or high emitting vehicles to reduce emissions and noise pollution in cities. Cargo bikes represent an alternative solution that enables deliveries with low environmental impact, but they may represent a higher economic cost and come with constraints like battery autonomy or small loading capacity. As a transport scheme relying on bikes for the last miles with fewer externalities, it is regarded as an environmentally friendly choice, and economic sustainability is assessed. This paper aims to present the environmental and economic aspects of different delivery means of transport in European urban areas. Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is selected to analyse the environmental impact of several vehicles, allowing us to quantify the emissions according to the loading factor. The electricity mix is an important parameter and makes the results vary according to the country studied. For the economic aspect, the cost price allows us to quantify the operational cost of each means of transport. A trade-off can thus be made between the two.

Keywords: life cycle assessment; city logistics; electric cargo-bike; sustainable logistics; mixed fleet (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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