Economic and logistical performance of refrigerated electric and hydrogen light commercial vehicles. A total cost of ownership and hybrid simulation perspective

The paper investigates whether refrigerated diesel light commercial vehicles (D-LCVs) could be substituted by refrigerated electric LCVs (E-LCVs) or hydrogen LCVs (H2-LCVs), considering both their economic and logistics performances. The economic performance is evaluated via the total cost of ownership (TCO) methodology, while the logistics one is estimated via a multi-agent simulation model. If LCVs are operated in urban contexts, we find that both alternative powertrains exhibit operational parity versus D-LCVs, irrespective of the weather conditions. In terms of TCO, however, only E-LCVs are almost competitive with D-LCVs, while H2-LCVs are by far costlier. If LCVs are used to distribute refrigerated goods in regional contexts (with longer travel distances), ELCVs show lower logistical efficiency than D-LCVs under normal conditions, further exacerbated in extreme weather, although they have better TCO metrics. On the contrary, H2-LCVs achieved similar logistical efficiency than D-LCVs but continue to show very poor economics.