Based on this report and the entire project there are several recommendations we would like to make for industry and research to further the sustainability of LMD, particularly in urban areas. The research was focused on the Nordic context, with the research carried out in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, therefore the recommendations also pertain best to this geographic and cultural context. However, the recommendations can also be applied to a broader context with adaptations. For example, the Nordic weather is a unique factor which needs to be considered, but it can also give insight into other contextual and environmental factors present in other contexts.
LEFVs can only compete with other vehicles if they are more efficient in the last mile. However, the usual metrics for transport efficiency are based on long haul transport and do not capture the benefits of LEFVs in urban areas. Therefore, new KPIs that reflect the specific characteristics of last mile operations are needed. For example, tkm and vkm are not good indicators of productivity in the last mile, since they do not account for the environmental impact or the congestion caused by different vehicles. A report from Trafa (2023) showed that LGVs, which mostly operate in cities, had a much higher share of emissions and mileage than their share of freight tonnes or tkm in Sweden. This suggests that LEFVs could have a significant advantage over LGVs in terms of efficiency and sustainability in the last mile.
Last mile companies measure their efficiency not only by weight or volume, but also by time and energy. For parcel deliveries, the driver’s workday is often the bottleneck, so the number of stops per route matters. The energy aspect reflects the companies’ goals and the cost savings from using less energy. Joule per parcel and stops per route are useful metrics for the growing e-commerce sector, as they support the transition to electric vehicles. They show how much energy is used per customer, shipment or parcel, and how this can be reduced by increasing energy efficiency. This is a positive trend for the transportation industry, which is moving towards more energy-efficient and sustainable last mile operations.
An important finding that i-Smile has made shows that cargo bikes are more efficient and require less travel distance than vans. This has been discussed previously among practitioners and researchers as an assumption, but i-Smile has been able to present data from a major company that clearly shows this. The data showed the following results for the KPIs stops per route, stops per route per hour, and distance. The results show that deliveries with a van incurred 30–50% more unnecessary driving, such as looking for parking or a suitable place to stop. Cargo bikes were also 10–20% faster in terms of time, as they were able to use various types of urban infrastructure, park anywhere, and make short cuts. Cargo bikes are more productive and require less unnecessary driving, leading to less emissions, traffic, and increased well-being in urban environments. However, the cost for intermediate storage might make it difficult for these solutions to be profitable. Furthermore:
LEFVs offer operational advantages in many contexts and can be especially useful where time, not weight or volume, is the limiting factor in a driver's workday.
Organizing transloading/transshipment points (city hubs, micro terminals) expands the flexibility and use cases of LEFVs, but can be difficult and costly to implement.
It is clear that cargo cycles can only replace some activities within a transport system.
A mixed fleet is likely to be the most efficient, but the balance of LEFVs to traditional vehicles can be impacted by factors related to policy, infrastructure and organization.
Wider adoption of these vehicles would increase opportunities for standardisation and increase their potential to deliver a larger share of goods.
Going forward, the recommendation of this project is that a fuller spectrum and integration of sustainability aspects are included in all last mile innovations and activities. This means, all stakeholders need to be included and collaborating more. There are many well-known sustainability challenges related to LMD that include the lack of critical mass for LMD that can generate sub-optimal fill rates and the utilization of less energy efficient vehicles (Simoni et al., 2020), and externalities including air and noise pollution, traffic congestion, traffic accidents, and greenhouse gas emissions (Browne et al., 2012). The i-Smile project, as an innovation project, wants to highlight the need to understand the importance of technological and business model developments and its impact on the evolutionary road to sustainability in cities.
The contemporary landscape of urban last-mile deliveries is marked by the convergence of evolving technologies and changing citizen perspectives. In this dynamic environment, the citizen perspective holds a pivotal role, as it shapes the priorities and expectations of last-mile delivery services. This socio-technical approach considers not only the technological advancements, such as autonomous and electric delivery vehicles, but also the intricate relationship between technology and society. Citizens' concerns about safety, traffic disruptions, and the utilization of urban space influence the design and implementation of these technologies. As cities aim to balance the convenience of last-mile deliveries with sustainable urban planning, the development of dynamic capabilities becomes crucial. This includes the ability to adapt to evolving trends in light electric freight vehicles and the last-mile delivery ecosystem, ensuring that cities can effectively respond to the evolving needs of their citizens while harnessing the potential of emerging technologies.