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Interested in participating in the next events and become part of the ASSURED Urban Freight User Group? Fill in this form and send it to Giacomo Lozzi (Polis Network): glozzi@polisnetwork.eu.
On 27 September, ASSURED partners Polis Network, VUB and Rupprecht Consult organised a workshop in Bilbao, together with the ASSURED Urban Freight User Group members. The workshop started discussing a business casefor ultra-fast charging infrastructure that is used by both public transport and logistics vehicles. We looked at both the challenges for implementation (e.g. payment and reservation) as well as the advantages of this solution (e.g. better use of limited space, shared investment costs between operators, etc.). Also, regulatory aspects were taken into consideration (e.g. selling electricity to 3rd parties).
From the various presentations (to be found below) and the site visits it emerged that, in addition to the availability and cost of trucks, which however seems to be constantly improving, the main problem for logistics operators is represented by the risks linked to the electricity supply as well the charging infrastructure. The stability of the grid is for example a concern that is raised continuously.
Depots (for trucks) and homes (for vans) require major charging infrastructure investments for logistics operations. Moreover, public chargers for opportunity charging are required, especially outside the city centers, to avoid inefficient returns to the depots’ chargers and to facilitate seamless delivery trips. For public urban charging spots, municipalities should take the lead and have policies and standards in place to develop shared charging infrastructure hubs that can be used by various electric (heavy-duty) vehicles, such as buses, utility vehicles, delivery trucks, vans, taxis, etc.
This has the benefit of reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for operators as well as a reduced range anxiety for operators of fleets with need for opportunity charging. For a full deployment of the charging infrastructure for logistics, there is a strong need for interoperability and standardization, and initially, public support is needed.
It is necessary to devise a shared charging infrastructure strategy harmonized with neighboring municipalities on a regional level to address transport needs in the entire functional urban area (FUA).
In the workshop it became clear that planning for e-mobility will have a significant impact and strongly dependent on land use planning. For this reason, local authorities often refrain from granting land for charging stations in the metropolitan areas. However, there are several public-private areas within the urban fabric that are dedicated to specific functions, such as ports, logistics poles, bus depots. Within these areas, charging infrastructure could also be opened up to other professional sectors, thus increasing the business case for ultra-fast charging infrastructure. The case of Munich and Allego are examples to be further explored (see summary of presentations 7 and 8 below).
It is important to segment the charging needs per sector (e.g. retail food and non-food, building sector, postal services and service logistics). For some of these, in addition to identifying the most appropriate charging models, it is also possible to rethink the use of vehicles.
For example, for those who need a vehicle for sporadic operations, the city of Paris has launched a van sharing service. Given the scarcity of public space, the city is also investigating the possibility of dedicating a bus depot with e-chargers to daytime logistics operations, since buses are recharged during the night and the depot is empty during the day.
Overall, the participants agreed that sharing charging infrastructure and deploying interoperable ultra-fast charging for various electric vehicles, such as e-buses, e-trucks and e-utility vehicles does not depend mainly on technical limitations. Rather, this topic requires coordination between very different stakeholders and currently is limited by business and operations-related issues.
In this regard, ASSURED is developing a business model for ultra-fast charging infrastructure used by various sectors and different heavy-duty vehicles, where on-route charging is involved. Aspects that need to be considered are:
- What level of e-vehicle take-up is needed and, in accordance, when can this become an interesting business model (2020, 2025, 2030)?
- What are differences for shared charging infrastructure in terms of locations and charging approaches (public opportunity charging vs. shared charging at depots/ in private areas)?
- What sectors actually have a need for using shared charging infrastructure, e.g. depending on driving ranges and route profiles)?
This workshop has provided very useful but preliminary insights on this topic, taking into consideration the requirements of public authorities, freight operators, OEMs as well as charging solutions suppliers. Starting from here, ASSURED partners (Rupprecht Consult, RINA) will develop detailed business models for ultra-fast charging infrastructure that can be used by both public transport and freight vehicles. Results will be presented and discussed at the next meeting of the ASSURED Urban Freight User Group.
- Presentation of ASSURED project (link) - State of the art and intermediate results - Sabina Asanova, VUB, ASSURED project manager
- SUMP 2.0 Guidelines – Electrification in sustainable urban mobility planning Topic Guide (link) - Thomas Mourey, Polis Network
- E-mobility strategy in Bilbao Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan and impact on the logistics sector (link) - Urrotz Larrañaga Garate, Bilbao City Council & Nerea Rojas, Basque Mobility and Logistics Cluste
- Sustainability Energy Law. Cross-sectorial & multi-governance approach. The role of the Energy Agency of the Basque Government for the electrification of transport in Bilbao (link) - Álvaro Pérez de Laborda, Basque Energy Agency – EVE
- Needs for providing fast charging infrastructure for urban logistics vehicles – the case of Amsterdam (link) - Robert van Hoed, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences & Tharsis Teoh, PANTEIA
- ASSURED Volvo Case: interoperability between e-trucks and e-buses sharing the same fast charging infrastructure. How can it work in practice? (link) - Fredrik Cederstav, AB Volvo & Spyros Ntemiris, City of Gothenburg
- ASSURED MAN Case: optimised electric drivetrain of refuse collection trucks demonstrator (link) - Stefan Fries, MAN Truck & Bus SE
- Allego: first MEGA-E high power charging network site in Europe. 322 ultra-fast chargers up to 350 kW in at least ten metropolitan areas in Europe (link) - Frank Verhulst, Allego
- Development of a business model for shared ultra-fast charging infrastructure for PT and freight electric vehicles (link) - Henning Günter, Rupprecht Consult