Last mile delivery with drones: A carbon emissions comparison
Jay R. Brown, Maxim A. Bushuev
Abstract
The development and potential adoption of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles as delivery vehicles creates incredible opportunities and unique challenges for last mile delivery. This research first presents a last mile delivery fleet model with drones that can be further modified and expanded over time. The model shows the optimal number of drones needed based on deterministic or stochastic demand using both traditional charging and battery swapping. The research then compares the carbon emissions of four delivery modes: traditional internal combustion delivery vehicles, all-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and drones within the context of last mile delivery. Findings reveal that the breakdown of carbon emissions by delivery modality depends on parameter assumptions, ambient temperature, delivery radius, electric grid pollution rate, and number of customers.