Possibilities of Applying Electrically Powered Vehicles in Urban Freight Transport

The negative environmental impacts from urban freight transport and deliveries to a large extent are derived from the fact that conventionally fuelled vehicles are mainly used for transporting goods. Many countries, including all those in the EU, have implemented regulations aimed at setting high technical parameters for conventionally fuelled vehicles in order to reduce their negative impacts, however, in the long term it seems to be insufficient. This, combined with the issue of oil resources depletion, leads to the need to search for alternative forms of delivery transport. One such solution is electric vehicles. These are becoming more and more popular, nevertheless, but they are mainly used in passenger transport. This article analyses a selected range of electrically powered freight vehicles and points out possibilities of applying such vehicles to make deliveries in cities. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.