Design of 2-level city logistic infrastructures parcel delivery with electric vehicles

Over the last decade, the increase in demand for B2C e-commerce has generated a higher request for urban transport services, thus causing a substantial environmental and social impact. To counteract such a situation, the involved institutions have issued restrictive regulations mandating logistic companies to implement new and more sustainable transport solutions for city logistics. The introduction of e-mobility in urban transport has represented in such regard a fundamental step towards more sustainable logistics systems for smart cities and communities. The implementation of such systems however requires a substantial re-thinking and redesign of the logistic networks, considering the different technical features of electric vehicles in comparison with traditional fossil fueled vehicles. In particular this research discusses the design of a city logistic system based upon proximity depots and short-distance zero emission vehicles (ZEV) such as cargo bikes, e-scooters, etc. A methodology is presented for dimensioning such a city logistic system, considering a 2-level network constituted by parcel delivery network and the depot replenishment routes. The approach proposed is based upon a mixed cluster-first and route second scheme and takes into account the specific elements of the operating context such as the population density and forecasted the daily request of delivery services. The approach is validated against a real case study referred to the city of Palermo, and the results obtained demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach proposed, and the viability of electric solutions for urban logistics with adequate logistic networks.