Alternative Vehicles in Last-Mile Freight: Fuels Freight and the Tennessee Economy

Changing urban land use, demographics, and consumer behaviors continue to alter the challenge of providing “last-mile” freight services in already active and densely trafficked metro settings. As a response, freight carriers are exploring the use of nontraditional freight vehicles such as cargo cycles or light electric vehicles (LEVs). Both the operating characteristics and infrastructure requirements of these alternative vehicles vary considerably from the motor vehicles typically used in urban freight service. Thus, planners and policy-makers face two inherently interconnected questions: (1) How do urban environmental characteristics influence fleet mix decisions? and (2) How do individual firms’ cost-driven fleet mix decisions impact urban system performance? Investigation into the role of public policy to promote LEV usage, ensure safety, provide adequate facilities for larger LEVs, include LEVs in urban freight planning, and provide incentives for using LEVs as an alternate to replace heavier trucks is required. Feasibility studies are also critical in order to determine the optimum land use, roadway design, density, and consumer demand requirements for different urban freight delivery models, including studying the scenarios that are best for traditional delivery vehicles and which are best for LEVs.

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $99,652.00
• Contract Numbers:

  RES2016-31

  IG1752332

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Tennessee Department of Transportation

  James K. Polk Building
  Fifth and Deaderick Street
  Nashville, TN  United States  37243-0349

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Tennessee Department of Transportation

  James K. Polk Building
  Fifth and Deaderick Street
  Nashville, TN  United States  37243-0349
• Project Managers:

  Langford, Casey

  Kosanovic, Amy

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Tennessee, Knoxville

  Knoxville, TN  United States 
• Principal Investigators:

  Cherry, Christopher

• Start Date: 20161001
• Expected Completion Date: 20190930
• Actual Completion Date: 20200630
• USDOT Program: Transportation, Planning, Research, and Development

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Consumer behavior; Economic factors; Electric vehicles; Freight transportation; Land use; Urban areas
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment; TRAFFIC PLANNING;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01708162
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Tennessee Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: RES2016-31, IG1752332
• Files: RiP
• Created Date: Jun 21 2019 2:01PM