Climate change is a reality today, and Scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have warned that global warming of 1.5°C will have irreversible consequences for our society. Logistics operations contributes a significant percentage of CO2 emissions, and the EU has announced new regulations and actions to cut 40% of CO2 emissions by 2030. To achieve this target, a wider adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) could be the right way, and a precise fleet sizing that allows to guarantee adequate service level becomes crucial. However, EVs are characterized by higher operational complexity, caused by lower travel distances and significant charging time, that requires specific studies. This thesis aims to analyze the actual state-of-the-art for EVs, focusing on the main factors that can affect the fleet sizing. We focused on the Italian context to address its most relevant issues, and carried out interviews with industry experts to contextualize the problem and improve the study’s practical relevance. Then, we developed a model to assess the required number of EVs for each combination of the identified design variables. Results highlight that prominent factors include the number of charging stations available, their power, the vehicle battery size, and the distance between the depot and the delivery area. The two latter also emerged as the two most important, as they can allow the fleet to minimize the number of charging stops, and therefore to respect the customer service level. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to evaluate the potential impact of the customer demand. The relative importance of the previously defined design variables remained unchanged. However, an higher customer density can allow to reduce the average distance per vehicle, and as a consequence the number of en route charges required. This thesis thus contributes to the academic literature by considering a non-linear EVs energy consumption in the urban Italian context together with en-route partial charges. From a managerial perspective, it recommends that a systemic approach should be adopted in the fleet sizing problem to consider the design variables interactions.
Gli scienziati dell'Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) hanno avvertito che un riscaldamento globale di 1,5°C avrà conseguenze irreversibili per la nostra società. L'UE ha annunciato nuovi regolamenti relativi alle emissioni di CO2 nel settore dei trasporti con l’intento di tagliare il 40% delle emissioni di CO2 entro il 2030. Per raggiungere questo obiettivo, una più ampia adozione di veicoli elettrici (EVs) può essere la direzione giusta, e un preciso dimensionamento della flotta diventa cruciale. La minore autonomia dei veicoli e i tempi di ricarica significativamente maggiori aumentano la complessità operativa di gestione di una flotta elettrica. Questa tesi mira ad analizzare l'attuale stato dell'arte per gli EVs, concentrandosi sui principali fattori che impattano sul dimensionamento della flotta nel contesto italiano. Per una maggior rilevanza pratica dello studio, abbiamo condotto interviste con esperti del settore. I più importanti fattori emersi sono stati la dimensione delle batterie dei veicoli, il numero di stazioni di ricarica disponibili, la loro potenza e la distanza tra il deposito e la zona di consegna. Abbiamo sviluppato un modello per valutare il numero di EVs necessario per ogni combinazione delle variabili identificate e abbiamo concluso che i due fattori più importanti sono la dimensione della batteria e la distanza del deposito. Questi sono infatti gli elementi che permettono alla flotta di minimizzare il numero di fermate per la ricarica, e quindi di rispettare il livello di servizio garantito al cliente. È stata anche condotta un'analisi di sensitività con lo scopo di valutare l'impatto della densità di consegna. Seppur l'importanza relativa dei fattori precedentemente definiti è rimasta invariata, il numero di ricariche necessarie durante il percorso risulta essere minore. Dal punto di vista della letteratura accademica, questa tesi contribuisce analizzando consumi energetici non lineari e ricariche parziali durante il percorso nel contesto urbano italiano. Da un punto di vista manageriale, un approccio sistemico nel valutare le interazioni tra i fattori dovrebbe essere adottato nel problema del dimensionamento della flotta.
Sizing an electric truck fleet for urban contexts : exploration of the design factors and simulation-based assessment of their impact
GALASSI, FEDERICO;RAPONE, RICCARDO
2020/2021
Abstract
Climate change is a reality today, and Scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have warned that global warming of 1.5°C will have irreversible consequences for our society. Logistics operations contributes a significant percentage of CO2 emissions, and the EU has announced new regulations and actions to cut 40% of CO2 emissions by 2030. To achieve this target, a wider adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) could be the right way, and a precise fleet sizing that allows to guarantee adequate service level becomes crucial. However, EVs are characterized by higher operational complexity, caused by lower travel distances and significant charging time, that requires specific studies. This thesis aims to analyze the actual state-of-the-art for EVs, focusing on the main factors that can affect the fleet sizing. We focused on the Italian context to address its most relevant issues, and carried out interviews with industry experts to contextualize the problem and improve the study’s practical relevance. Then, we developed a model to assess the required number of EVs for each combination of the identified design variables. Results highlight that prominent factors include the number of charging stations available, their power, the vehicle battery size, and the distance between the depot and the delivery area. The two latter also emerged as the two most important, as they can allow the fleet to minimize the number of charging stops, and therefore to respect the customer service level. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to evaluate the potential impact of the customer demand. The relative importance of the previously defined design variables remained unchanged. However, an higher customer density can allow to reduce the average distance per vehicle, and as a consequence the number of en route charges required. This thesis thus contributes to the academic literature by considering a non-linear EVs energy consumption in the urban Italian context together with en-route partial charges. From a managerial perspective, it recommends that a systemic approach should be adopted in the fleet sizing problem to consider the design variables interactions.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/182881