Overview
與相當低迷的運輸people and goods during the COVID-19 pandemic, many ride-share providers, shippers and freight companies examined their legacy ride and trip data to prepare new business models for the future, regardless of when or where they would eventually deploy. Ride-share operators as well as retail package delivery system operators, all discovered a high frequency of relatively short trips in shorter distance ranges, and for the ride-share services they saw that the great majority of their rides were comprised of one or two passengers, with almost all these trips being in internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. This started a movement to right-size the most efficient vehicles to each application. These developments coupled with the expanding range of electric transport vehicle form factors, including e-bikes, e-motorcycles, electric passenger cars, electric trucks, autonomous delivery robots, and autocycles have created myriad options to those in the ecosystem.
Most Ride-Share Trips Are for One or Two People in an ICE Vehicle
Work by Dr. David Metcalf and others at the University of Central Florida looked at ride-share passenger statistics. An analysis
yielded that 85 percent of passenger trips consisted of one or two passengers with a trip distance under 15 miles. Additionally, the use of a four thousand pound four to six passenger ICE vehicle for such operations came with the legacy greenhouse gas emissions, as well as other negative environmental impacts. And while four to six passenger electric vehicles could and were being used in these applications, they too represent an over commitment of resources as most trips only needed two seats. The additional weight of a four to six passenger electric vehicle does impact actual street and road pavement and infrastructure in a way that ICE vehicles do not. With that in mind, the stakeholder needs were documented, and solutions based on those consensus-based needs began to take shape. In the near-term, a smaller vehicle with two seats could address most of the ride-share market – and be more efficient for package delivery as well. Further into the future, package delivery vehicles could become much smaller, and much more environmentally friendly.
Regulatory Issues, Licensing and Registration
Is a motorcycle endorsement or other operating permit needed? In the US, while licensure is a state-by-state issue, states like Florida recently have enacted “autocycle” legislation that supports three-wheel vehicles as a unique category – one that does not require a motorcycle license endorsement.
Fueling Infrastructure
With shorter ranges, range anxiety of these small vehicles may be much more pronounced when contrasted to their larger EV brethren, however local nature of trips should negate any negative impacts if predictable routing is part of the business trip model.
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Keywords: Electric Vehicles, Sustainability, Supply Chain, Transportation, ARC Advisory Group.