FREVUE

The overall objective of FREVUE was to create an evidence base on European best practice which would underpin future uptake of EVs by private logistics operators and justify policy interventions to promote the use of EVs for urban deliveries.

One of the goals of the 2011 European White Paper for Transport was to achieve “essentially CO2 free city logistics in major urban centres by 2030” and recognised that achieving this through the use of electric vehicles (EVs) was likely to eliminate other harmful pollutants in city centres at the same time. Furthermore, within the 2013 Urban Mobility Package, a call for action in urban logistics identified FREVUE as a European Commission flagship project to support the introduction of electric freight vehicles by demonstrating and evaluating innovative urban logistics solutions in eight of Europe’s largest cities.

City logistics not only has great potential for emissions reduction, it can also contribute to the uptake of electric vehicles, and the introduction of new concepts and business models. Despite this potential and the strong policy support, electric vehicle use in the logistics sector was constrained by a number of barriers, including high investment costs, limitations with respect to range, payload and volume, and constraints around charging.