Does it Pay Off? Tool-supported Profitability Analysis of Alternative Drive Technologies

The Corona crisis led to a variety of challenges in the logistics sector due to volatile demand and changes in demand behavior, as well as strong cost increases. In this respect, there is increasing pressure to reduce these costs in the future through innovative solutions. For road freight transport, the question arises as to whether alternative drives can achieve the goal of cost reductions and also have positive effects on climate protection. Logistics service providers are therefore not only faced with the problem of selecting a specific technology (e.g. Battery Electric Vehicles or Fuel Cell Vehicles) but above all with the problem of economic efficiency and evaluation of climate impacts. The aim of this project is to support the selection of alternative drives in corporate practice with a pragmatic practical approach. The Excel-based tool is characterized by the use of a direct costing based approach with fixed and variable costs as well as the structured collection of basic data (e.g. energy prices) and sample vehicle data for comparisons. As initial results of the case studies conducted shows, it can be stated that there are already use cases in which an alternative drive offers economic advantages over conventional combustion engine vehicles.