Evaluating Delivery Fleets to Right-Size Operations and Transition to Zero-Emission

Urban last-mile deliveries are estimated to account for over 30% of a city’s emissions by 2030, and with consumers relying more and more on e-commerce, last mile logistics has become a priority for many cities. For delivery companies, the last mile is often the costliest part of making a delivery and can account for 25-to-50% of transportation supply costs. Last mile logistics is a complex issue with many opportunities for improvement, and transitioning commercial vehicles to zero-emission is one way for leading states like CA and NY, as well as many nations that have committed to the Global Drive to Zero MOU, to improve the last mile. Calstart has asked the Capstone team to facilitate the evaluation of delivery fleets to right-size operations and transition to zero-emission via development of a heuristic model for private companies to utilize when evaluating the last mile delivery fleet. This heuristic may be refined over time to provide a set of metrics for companies or third parties to evaluate “adjusted fleet efficiency” which considers not only fuel usage and maintenance, but also equity and impact considerations. It is expected that the heuristic be initially broad enough to scale for different company sizes in different municipalities and be refined and evolve over time.