Roadmap for Electrification of Urban Freight in India

Mr. Sharif Qamar (Principal Investigator)

Urban freight movement forms a crucial part of the urban ecosystem. It is a fundamental part of the overall transportation supply chain. Movement of goods originating from or outside the urban periphery which enters into an urban area through commercial road vehicles forms the urban freight network. Such movement is usually catered by both light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M/HCVs) depending upon volume of goods carried, distance travelled, and the service area to be catered.

Aim of the study:

1. Capturing best practices (Indian and International), current scenario in the Indian context, and benefits of electrification of urban freight sector
2. Potential and barriers to electrify freight transport: Case Studies of Bengaluru, Surat and Delhi
3. Estimation of energy and emission savings by electrification of urban freight
4. Potential areas of electrification of urban freight vehicles in the country
5. Stakeholder engagement and road map for electrification of the urban freight sector

Goods on the Move: Efficiency and Sustainability in India Logistics

Improving efficiency of the logistics sector is of high importance for the country’s economy as it boosts economic growth, grows exports through global supply chains and generates employment. Logistical inefficiencies lead to reduced employment opportunities, perpetuate a poverty cycle for rural populations, make roads and highways unsafe, and contribute adversely to pollution. Goods on the Move explores various dimensions of long haul and urban freight transportation in India. It highlights opportunities and existing barriers within goods transportation and inventory management as well as their economic, environmental and social impact. The report also does a deep dive into potential digital, regulatory and infrastructure solutions to promote a shift to more efficient modes, reduce high inventory costs, improve low truck productivity and enhance the efficiency of urban distribution.

Deliver Electric Delhi

Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi, RMI, and RMI India

Deliver Electric Delhi is a pilot on the electrification of final mile delivery vehicles in Delhi. The pilot is hosted by RMI, RMI India, and Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi in collaboration with 36 private sector organisations. The pilot will deploy 1,000 electric delivery vehicles and the associated charging infrastructure in Delhi. The report provides an overview of the pilot and covers the opportunity and need for electrifying final-mile delivery vehicles in Delhi, pilot specifications, the process for pilot implementation, conclusions, and path forward.

Sustainable Freight Initiatives in India – State of Play

Mr. Sudhir Gota and Mr. Sharif Qamar

The paper, Sustainable Freight Initiatives in India – State of Play, discusses sustainable freight strategies that avoid unnecessary freight activity by improving the utilization of freight fleets, shift the movement of goods to more efficient modes of transport such as rail and battery-powered vehicles, and improve freight vehicles to reduce their fuel consumption and impact on the environment. TERI is working on setting up a platform on sustainable freight with an aim to promote and demonstrate innovative ways to improve the sustainability through partnerships and experience sharing. We look forward to working with the stakeholders in this sector to accelerate progress towards making urban freight cleaner and more efficient.

India’s Electric Vehicle Transition: Can Electric Mobility Support India’s Sustainable Economic Recovery Post COVID-19 ?

Abhinav Soman, Harsimran Kaur, Himani Jain, Karthik Ganesan

This report, supported by Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, explores the impact of India’s electric vehicle transition on India’s economic recovery. It examines the impact of a 30 per cent EV sales share in 2030 on domestic value-addition, jobs, crude oil imports, revenue generated from taxes, local pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, the study quantifies these impacts in different mode-share scenarios - (i) high public transport scenario, (ii) high private vehicle scenario, and (iii) shared mobility scenario.

Sustainable Freight Initiatives in India – State of Play

The report reviews existing urban freight movement characteristics across nine cities in Argentina, Colombia and India, provide an account of current GHG emissions from urban freight and to evolve strategies to minimize its impact. The report is designed to be used as a baseline from which to measure emissions reductions and will be used as part of the Low Carbon Action Plan for Urban Freight (LCAPUF), which details the actions that are planned in order to curtail energy consumption and emissions from urban freight. In alignment of global efforts on carbon accounting for logistics operations, the baseline emissions have been established using ICLEI’s EcoLogistics Self-monitoring Tool – a free tool to help cities build policies, guide solutions and measure progress.

Sustainable Freight Initiatives in India – State of Play

The article discusses the learnings from the EcoDriving trainings provided to over 50 freight vehicle drivers

EcoLogistics: Low carbon freight for sustainable cities, City Profiles

The report shares the urban logistics city profile in Cities from India, Argentina, and Columbia. The city from India includes Kochi, Panaji and Shimla. The report highlights key facts such as emissions, key stakeholders and strategies adopted by cities related to urban freight.

Efficient Urban Freight Policy Framework

Dave Mullaney, Samhita Shiledar, Akshima Ghate, Clay Stranger

The document provides an introduction to urban freight with the dual purpose of positioning policymakers to reduce the costs of moving goods within a city while also mitigating negative consequences, which freight deliveries create for city liveability. It introduces basic concepts and terminology, benefits of enhancing urban freight efficiency and an overview of urban freight policy landscape in India.

Efficient Urban Freight Policy Workbook

Dave Mullaney, Samhita Shiledar, Akshima Ghate, Clay Stranger

The workbook provides high-level guidance to municipal transport policymakers on how to improve the efficiency of urban freight. It follows a checklist approach that builds on the logic and methodology explained in the Urban Freight Policy Framework document. Municipal policymakers can evaluate where they stand in the process of building an effective urban freight system, what actions they can take to improve urban freight efficiency and how to best prioritize those actions, through the guidance provided by this guidance document.

Efficient Urban Freight Best Practices

Dave Mullaney, Samhita Shiledar, Akshima Ghate, Clay Stranger

The document presents a non-exhaustive list of actions, which policymakers can take to improve performance on key KPIs along with a set of case studies to illustrate the actions.

Efficient Urban Freight Evaluation Metrics

Dave Mullaney, Samhita Shiledar, Akshima Ghate, Clay Stranger

The document describes key performance metrics (KPIs) for monitoring a city’s progress towards making its urban freight system more efficient.

Urban Freight and Logistics: The State of Practices in India

Vedant S. Goyal

India has witnessed rapid growth of its cities in the recent years, which are considered as the drivers of its economy. According to the Planning Commission of India, cites are expected to contribute to 70% of India’s GDP by 2030. With this growth of the cities, the logistics industry too, has grown. This would require a lot of infrastructure facilities.

Considering the urban freight sector, this paper provides an overview of the freight movement taking place in the urban centres across India. It reviews the existing condition of the urban freight sector in India and looks at various national and international case studies to identify potential pitfalls that India should avoid along with some recognised practices and success stories.

Urban Freight in Developing Cities

Bernhard O. Herzog

Economic development of a nation relies heavily on the supply of goods and materials. However, the urban freight transportation is one of the predominant contributors to air pollution, noise emission and traffic congestion. However, tackling with the issues of urban freight transportation is a difficult since it involves a large number of private stakeholders.

This document aims at assisting policy makers in developing nations by providing a comprehensive overview of the techniques to combat the issues The document consists of both short term and advanced and innovative long term measures. The document also uses various case studies from developing and developed cities to illustrate the of the implementation measures discussed.

“Best Practices in Urban Freight : An Overview of Selected National and International Experiences” in book titled “Reforming Urban Transport in India- Issues and Best Practices”

Dr. M. Ramchandran ( Editor)

This book chapter brings out the urban freight trends in India, emerging issues and challenges and various best practices in urban freight including various city logistics measures globally as well as within the country

India’s Electric Vehicle Transition: Impact on Auto Industry and Building the EV Ecosystem

Abhinav Soman, Karthik Ganesan, Harsimran Kaur ( Editor)

This report, supported by Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, explores various aspects of India’s transition to electric mobility. It examines the impact it would have on the automotive value chain, particularly on the automotive components industry and the jobs in this sector. The report quantifies the impacts and proposes strategies to ensure a transition trajectory that can mitigate any adverse fallout. Further, it maps the current e-mobility ecosystem in India and compiles the various policy, finance, and supply chain challenges that the various stakeholders face.

Financing India’s Transition to Electric Vehicles

Vaibhav Pratap Singh, Kanika Chawla, Saloni Jain

The study assesses segment-wise electric vehicle (EV) sales, battery requirements, public charging infrastructure necessary, and the investments needed until 2030 to support India’s EV transition. In addition to the 2030 target, the study models three transition scenarios. Further, it identifies the barriers to the investment flow and solutions to accelerate the flow of investments in the sector.

Financing India’s Energy Transition: A Guide on Green Bonds for Renewable Energy and Electric Transport

Arjun Dutt, Abhinav Soman, Kanika Chawla, Neha Kumar, Sandeep Bhattacharya, Prashant Vaze

This report published in collaboration with the Climate Bonds Initiative focuses on the potential of green bonds as an effective instrument to finance India’s switch from fossil fuels to renewable resources. The bond market could complement traditional sources of debt – banks and non-bank financial institutions – through the refinancing of primary debt. Key regulatory and market developments could accelerate the development of India’s corporate bond markets, and facilitate capital raising through the bond route. Green bonds have the potential to be used as a tool to address the capital raising needs of both the private sector, as well as sub-sovereign government (in this case state governments), for the renewable energy (RE) and electric mobility sectors.

Surat -2046 Comprehensive Mobility Plan

Surat Municipal Corporation, SUDA, Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Urban Transport, CRDF, CEPT University

The Comprehensive Mobility Plan 2046 for Surat is a strategic transportation plan prepared to address the future mobility needs of the city. It presents a long-term vision and a road map for moving towards an integrated and sustainable transport system in the year 2046. The focus areas of the CMP include Land Use Transport Integration, Road Network Plan, Integrated Multi-Modal Public Transit System, Non-Motorised Transit Plan, Mobility management measures like Parking Plan, Intersection Improvement Projects, Demand Management, Freight Traffic Improvement Plan.

The objective of freight management in the context of this plan is to ‘improve freight mobility within the overall transport sector priorities of facilitating urban mobility and public safety’. The following are proposed as a part of the plan

1. New outer ring road for through freight and vehicular traffic
2. ‘Textile corridor’ with logistic park
3. Entry exit restrictions for freight vehicles (HCVs and MCVs)
4. Parking regulations
5. Provision of Farm to Market