Driverless trucks . Electric vehicles . Hybrid vans . Many believe that these are the future for the last mile .
Not Satish Jindel . He sees the use of these vehicles as long-term solutions , but not the panaceas for what ails the industry today . “ All the talk about them misses the point . Yes , there will come a time when these alternative vehicles will help the industry improve efficiencies and cut down on its carbon footprint . Some day . Not today . Not for the U . S .,” says Jindel a transportation expert with more than 30 years of experience in the logistics industry . He is the president and principal consultant at SJ Consulting Group Inc . which provides strategy , marketing , pricing , merger and acquisition and operational advice to businesses in the transportation and logistics industries .
“ I believe that the time when most vehicles used by last-mile providers are electric , hybrid or autonomous is far away . Right now , there ’ s still a lot to work out for both the industry and consumers . For example , let ’ s say an autonomous vehicle shows up on the sidewalk in front of my building . How does that product move to my front door ? Americans are not conditioned to go out to the curb to pick up their products . In China , on the other hand , I have seen them work . They were making deliveries on corporate campuses . Here ’ s how that works : As a driverless vehicle approaches a designated spot , it sends a text to the person expecting the delivery that says , ‘ The robot is two minutes away .’ Someone comes down , they look into the camera for identification and that opens a section of the robot where their packages are . Once they take out their items the driverless vehicle sends a message to the next destination where people come out to retrieve their items . America is not ready for that . They are not into ‘ do it yourself ’ in this context .”
Jindel believes that the use of electric vehicles for commercial use will happen sooner than driverless vehicles . “ I see the practical use of EVs by those in the last-mile as being at least two or three years away . Maybe even longer ,” he says . “ Right now , they are too expensive to be practical for last-mile providers . Also , the infrastructure for charging them is still not adequate for what the industry needs . Lastly , it takes too long to charge them to make them practical for the last-mile sector .”
How about the adoption of hybrid vehicles ? This is the most likely in the near future , according the Jindel . “ Of the three alternatives , this will be the first one that will be widely adopted by the industry ,” he says . But he also suggests that there is an even better way for the industry to improve efficiencies . “ It ’ s a pretty low-tech solution , but one I believe will have the greatest impact on the industry - cutting down the number of miles that drivers drive .
“ I believe that the time when most vehicles used by last-mile providers are electric , hybrid or autonomous is far away . Right now , there ’ s still a lot to work out for both the industry and consumers .”
In an ecommerce world this goal seems improbable . “ In 2021 , retail ecommerce sales in the United States exceeded $ 360 billion . This figure increased to $ 431.4 billion in 2022 . And it ’ s expected to grow even further to $ 511.8 billion in 2023 , $ 604.5 billion in 2024 and $ 710.42 billion in 2025 ,” according to Forbes Advisor . This does not seem like a recipe for driving less miles . But Jindel says it ’ s all about making fewer trips to each home by pushing back on the misguided assumption that consumers need everything they order next day . “ So many things are being delivered not when the customer wants
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