Electrify delivery vehicles
Background
Most package delivery is done by just a few companies: UPS, USPS, FedEx, Amazon, DHL, OnTrac. Delivery is mostly from vans and small trucks that are owned by the delivery company. There are also some companies that offer jobs to sub-contractors who supply vehicles and drive for them, such as AmazonFlex and UberEats. But, in order to use the Commercial Loading Zones in Seattle, the truck must be permitted by the City. These delivery fleets are quite large -- UPS has around 123,000 vehicles worldwide, while FedEx has about 85,000. How can Seattle require these vehicles be electrified?
Policy Ideas
These are some ideas to encourage faster electrification of delivery vehicles:
To park in a loading zone, vehicles are required to get a Commercial Vehicle Load Zone Permit from the city. The city could have a two-tiered charging structure for these so that clean powered vehicles pay less.
The city could do a form of cordon or area pricing for access to delivery, where the charges are less for clean powered vehicles.
The city could establish a freight hub on the edge of downtown, with offloading and short term storage capabilities, as well as recharging for last mile delivery.
Current Programs
There is nothing that is explicitly around electrification. There is an interesting local resource, the UW Urban Freight Lab. One of the research projects that are working on is piloting having dedicated small package hubs, where packages can be dropped off large trucks and transferred to smaller trucks for the last mile. This might enable more electrification, as smaller, electric vehicles could be employed for the final segment, and vehicles recharged at the hub.
In the Media
Amazon has invested in Rivian, a startup focused on electric small trucks. Amazon has announced that it will purchase 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian by 2030.
UPS has ordered 10,000 electric delivery vans from Arrival.
FexEx has ordered 1,000 electric vans, and is electrifying 42 stations in California. The company has a goal of a 50% fuel efficiency improvement by 2025 on a 2005 baseline.
The Democratic infrastructure bill, the Moving Forward Act, would allocate $25 billion to replace the USPS aging delivery fleet with new electric vehicles.
Report from the Rocky Mountain Institute, Fully Electrifying Delivery Vehicles: Insights from Shenzhen