Abstract:

The option of decarbonizing urban freight transport using battery electric vehicles (BEVs) seems promising. However, there is currently a strong debate whether fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) might be the better solution. The question arises as to how a fleet of FCEVs influences the operating cost, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and primary energy demand compared to BEVs and Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEV). The authors simulate urban food retailing as a representative share of urban freight transport using a multi-agent transport simulation software to investigate this. Synthetic routes and fleet size and composition are determined by solving a vehicle routing problem. Using the well-to-wheel approach, the authors compute the operating costs using a total cost of ownership analysis and the use phase emissions as well as primary energy demand. While a change to BEV results in 17–23% higher costs than ICEV, using FCEVs leads to 22–57% higher costs. Assuming today’s electricity mix, the authors show a GHG emission reduction of 25% compared to the ICEV base case when using BEV. Current hydrogen production leads to a GHG reduction of 33% when using FCEV which however, cannot be scaled to larger fleets. Using current electricity in electrolysis will increase GHG emissions by 60% compared to the base case. Assuming 100% renewable electricity for charging and hydrogen production, the reduction from FCEVs rises to 73% and from BEV to 92%. The primary energy requirement for BEV is lower and higher compared to the base case. The authors conclude that while FCEV has a slightly higher GHG savings potential than current hydrogen, BEV is the favored technology for urban freight transport from an economic and ecological point of view, considering the increasing shares of renewable energies in the grid mix.