Therefore, the likes of UPS, FedEx, DHL, TNT and other delivery fleets are under pressure to cut costs and act in a sustainable manner. For these reasons ABI Research believes that using electric vehicles (EVs) in conjunction with telematics is a no-brainer for last-mile delivery and supporting “green fleet” initiatives.
EVs in delivery fleets have a huge market potential: for example DHL has approximately 300,000 vans worldwide. Several organizations have demonstrated that using EVs in the last mile of delivery can be virtually emission-free. TNT already has introduced EVs in London, DHL is switching to EV delivery in Bonn and FedEx announced it will be using EVs in both Washington and Latin America.
Filomena Berardi senior analyst at ABI Research, said, “Delivery fleets are working hard to keep costs down; and telematics is still important for route planning and monitoring driver behavior. In fact, the number of subscribers using telematics in this sector is set to reach over half a million by 2019. However, there’s a limit to how much telematics can do when fuel prices keep rising; and so using EVs for last-mile delivery makes a lot of sense. Going forward EVs are the future for last-mile delivery.”
