Techno-Economical and Ecological Potential of Electric Scooters: A Life Cycle Analysis

In Germany, mobility is currently in a state of flux. Since June 2019, electric kick scooters (e-scooters) have been permitted on the roads, and this market is booming. This study employs a user survey to generate new data, supplemented by expert interviews to determine whether such e-scooters are a climate-friendly means of transport. The environmental impacts are quantified using a life cycle assessment. This results in a very accurate picture of e-scooters in Germany. The global warming potential of an e-scooter calculated in this study is 165 g CO2-eq./km, mostly due to material and production (that together account for 73% of the impact). By switching to e-scooters where the battery is swapped, the global warming potential can be reduced by 12%. The lowest value of 46 g CO2-eq./km is reached if all possibilities are exploited and the life span of e-scooters is increased to 15 months. Comparing these emissions with those of the replaced modal split, e-scooters are at best 8% above the modal split value of 39 g CO2-eq./km

Viability of electric vehicles in combined day and night delivery : a total cost of ownership example in Germany

A review of the body of literature yields general indications that electric freight vehicles can improve emissions and costs in off-hour delivery schemes. However, the literature fails to quantify the savings potential in a combined day and off-hours double-shift usage. Hence, this article qualitatively clusters the advantages of electric vehicles in off-hours delivery schemes and provides quantitative exemplary model calculations on the total costs of ownership in single- and double- shift usage. Surprisingly, the calculations contradict the hypothesis that is commonly deduced in the literature that with a higher utilisation, electric vehicles generally become more competitive compared to their conventional siblings. This study finds that electric medium-duty vehicles are only financially competitive at higher mileages, if the savings achieved by lower operational costs are greater than the costs for battery replacements. These become more frequent at higher mileages; hence a long battery warranty is essential when planning to operate EVs in double-shifts. An elasticity analysis finds that further important parameters influencing the competitiveness of medium-duty electric vehicle compared to conventional diesel models are the discount rate, purchase prices, and the cost of diesel fuel. In conclusion, financial subsidies for purchasing freight EVs might lead to higher numbers of these vehicles. However, increasing the per-kilometre cost advantage of electric freight vehicles would support their utilisation, i.e. in combined day and night shifts, and hence would further mitigate the road freight transport emissions in cities.PeerReviewe

Assessing the cost-optimal mileage of medium-duty electric vehicles with a numeric simulation approach

Electric freight vehicles have the potential to mitigate local urban road freight transport emissions, but their numbers are still insignificant. Logistics companies often consider electric vehicles as too costly compared to vehicles powered by combustion engines. Research within the body of the current literature suggests that increasing the driven mileage can enhance the competitiveness of electric freight vehicles. In this paper we develop a numeric simulation approach to analyze the cost-optimal balance between a high utilization of medium-duty electric vehicles – which often have low operational costs – and the common requirement that their batteries will need expensive replacements. Our work relies on empirical findings of the real-world energy consumption from a large German field test with medium-duty electric vehicles. Our results suggest that increasing the range to the technical maximum by intermediate (quick) charging and multi-shift usage is not the most cost-efficient strategy in every case. A low daily mileage is more cost-efficient at high energy prices or consumptions, relative to diesel prices or consumptions, or if the battery is not safeguarded by a long warranty. In practical applications our model may help companies to choose the most suitable electric vehicle for the application purpose or the optimal trip length from a given set of options. For policymakers, our analysis provides insights on the relevant parameters that may either reduce the cost gap at lower daily mileages, or increase the utilization of medium-duty electric vehicles, in order to abate the negative impact of urban road freight transport on the environment

Insights into real-world energy consumption of medium-duty electric vehicles

Realistic assessments of the energy consumption of medium-duty battery electric vehicles (BEV) are sparse in literature, but still pivotal for total cost of ownership calculations and ecological considerations. This paper reports on the real-world energy consumption of four types of medium-duty electric vehicles measured in a large German field test. The different energy consumption levels in winter and summer are evaluated. We find that the energy consumption deviates between -8% and 24% from the values provided by the manufacturer and the effect of the season is strongly superimposed by the driving profile

Surveillance UAVs in a bat’s world

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