E-mobility for last/first mile: Fleet innovation and charging infrastructure needs

The innovations Kyburz brings to the area of last mile delivery steadily contribute to lower well-to-wheel emissions in Switzerland, Australia, and 14 other countries all over the world. In this short presentation, I will examine some of the insights gained through our data-driven approach to engineering design and highlight how these processes can be scaled to other problems. I will also touch on activities relating to the circularity of material flows and autonomous driving for on-road energy use reduction.

Dr Wilhelm is the Head of Research at Kyburz Switzerland and is responsible for data analytics in self-driving system engineering. He earned his PhD from ETH Zurich while studying multicriteria vehicle design, data analytics and control optimization. During his stay in Zurich he co-founded a startup in vehicle telematics for reducing on-road energy use. His post-doctoral research was performed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Field Intelligence Lab. Dr Wilhelm has held an assistant professorship at the Singapore University of Technology and Design where he contributed to robotics and large-scale data collection research areas.

Electric vehicle charging infrastructure development needs vary depending on different pathways of adopting electric vehicles, autonomous driving, and shared mobility. A fleet of human-driven electric vehicles and a fleet of shared autonomous electric vehicles would have different charging needs and different infrastructure support requirements. These considerations are critical for users, service providers, and fleet operators. In this presentation, Professor Cai will share her group's research on using integrated simulation and optimization models to inform electric vehicle charging infrastructure development.

Hua Cai is a Visiting Professor at ETH Zurich. She is an Associate Professor at Purdue University, holding a joint appointment in Industrial Engineering and Environmental and Ecological Engineering. Her research interests include data-driven system modeling and optimization, prospective environmental assessment of emerging technologies, complex adaptive systems, and decision making for sustainable consumptions. Specifically, her research has focused on the environmental impacts of shared mobility and micromobility, autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles, and infrastructure optimization to support the mixed adoption of these emerging transportation technologies for urban sustainability.