ZEUS – Zero emission off-peak urban deliveries

In the ZEUS project three cities respectively metropolitan areas, three companies and four universities respectively research institutes have discussed and investigated how the concept of delivery in off-peak or night time and the simultaneous avoidance of emissions can positively influence logistics in urban areas.

The aim of the ZEUS project was to model and demonstrate different use cases of urban low-noise off-peak deliveries with less emissions. Therefore, project partners identified feasible off-peak delivery set-ups for cities that kept the supply needs of the cities, traditionally known under the term “necessity of freight”, in view. For this purpose, requirements and views of stakeholders, including cities from Belgium, Germany and Sweden, were collected and evaluated. And various methods for assessing the effects of specific logistical concepts were applied on a case-by-case basis and systematically combined.

The ZEUS project was mainly carried out in 2020.

One of the outcomes of the project was a guideline of more than 80 pages presenting the experiences and results have been made in the ZEUS project. The approaches, procedures, and findings of this work for municipal users have been compiled into this guideline.

Initially, the guideline presents the motivation of the city and industry partners of the project as well as the objectives.

After this, regulations and the legal situation in the countries covered by ZEUS city partners is explained. The six core methods, models and tools that have been adapted for and applied in ZEUS are explained in the next chapter. These are the Traffic Model, the Transport Efficiency Assessment Model, the Noise Impact Assessment Tool, the Silent Routing algorithm, an respective Business Modell Canvas and the MAMCA Method. Afterwards, the field tests that took place in the cities of Stockholm, Brussels and Munich are described. The core chapter of the guideline presents the findings for Silent Night Logistics evolved by ZEUS project. The conclusion and the outlook conclude the guideline.

The guideline “ZEUS – Zero emission off-peak urban deliveries – Guide to Experiences and Results of the ZEUS Project” can be purchased for 100€ plus VAT.

If interested, send a request to ZEUS-guideline@iml.fraunhofer.de.