A new study from researchers at MIT's Center for Transportation and Logistics suggests that the deployment of commercial electric vehicles (EVs) can have a demonstrable economic upside for various business fleets.
A main finding of the study – which focused primarily on delivery vehicles working in urban areas – is that EVs can cost 9% to 12% less to operate than diesel-powered trucks.
Using data from office supplier Staples and grid operator ISO New England, the researchers modeled the costs for a fleet of 250 delivery trucks. Staples currently has 53 all-electric trucks from Smith Electric Vehicles in its fleet.
The study found that the operational cost dropped from 75 cents per mile to 68 cents per mile when vehicle-to-grid-enabled electric trucks were substituted for internal-combustion trucks. Trucks with internal-combustion engines averaged 10.14 miles per gallon, compared to 11.56 miles per gallon for hybrid trucks, while electric-only trucks averaged 0.8 kWh per mile.
MIT's article describing the study can be found HERE.
