MAN Project: E-Trucks Deliver Quickly and Punctually in Edge-of-Day Operations

MAN Truck & Bus has announced its participation in a pilot project for emission-free delivery to city centers in Munich. The goal of the ZEUS project under the EU organization EIT Urban Mobility is to use electric trucks as an alternative during off-peak hours to ease traffic during peak times and reduce emissions. The manufacturer aims to demonstrate through its own test drives in Munich that electric trucks can be effectively used during sensitive hours and points to the significantly lower noise emissions compared to diesel counterparts, in addition to zero exhaust emissions.

"Shifting city deliveries to off-peak hours already makes logistics more efficient without affecting residents," the truck manufacturer is convinced.

The city of Munich, like many other metropolises, suffers from increasing traffic and air pollution, argues the provider. A redesign of the inner-city supply of goods and merchandise leads to positive effects on several levels. At MAN, the solution is seen in the delivery of retail during off-peak times - with electrically powered trucks.

"All scientific studies show that shifting inner-city deliveries to off-peak times allows logistics to be handled more quickly and that the impact on the rest of the traffic is significantly lower than during peak times," explains Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU), head of labor and economics at the city of Munich.

This was also confirmed in the test drives conducted by MAN together with the City of Munich last November as part of the ZEUS project, the results of which are now available. The test drives carried out with the fully electric distribution truck MAN eTGM resulted in a time saving of 15 to 30 percent, which can be achieved by shifting the delivery time window in the city center to the off-peak hours. At the same time, punctuality and predictability were almost increased to 100 percent.