ELCIDIS:
La Rochelle
La Rochelle, a city of 135 000 inhabitants
on the French Atlantic coast, was one of the first European cities with
a traffic policy aimed at reducing environmental pollution. As a part of
this policy the municipality has been promoting the use of electric cars,
bicycles and public transport. At this moment, there are 235 electric vehicles
on the road, which makes La Rochelle the leading city for electric vehicles
within the European Union.
In the narrow streets of the historic city centre of La Rochelle, distribution activities cause environmental as well as congestion problems. To decrease the problems with goods deliveries, the city has introduced access restrictions for entering the old city.Trucks are only allowed to enter the city centre before 11 a.m. and they may not exceed a total weight of 7.5 tons.
The successful deployment of electric vehicles has led to a plan for introducing an electric vehicle based logistic system for goods deliveries in the city.The concept is to develop an urban distribution centre from which electric vehicles will deliver parcels and packages to shops and businesses in La Rochelle. The same vehicles will also collect packages and take them to the distribution centre for deliveries outside La Rochelle.
The
use of a central distribution centre will lead to a more efficient organisation
of goods deliveries and to a reduction in vehicle kilometres covered by
trucks and vans in the city centre.The electric urban distribution vehicles
will have longer access to the city centre, which is an important incentive
for shops and businesses to join the service.
In the
context of ELCIDIS, La Rochelle will introduce 6 small electric vans and
3 scooters for parcel, package and express deliveries in the city centre.
Small electric vans and scooters are best suited for driving in the narrow
streets of the historical city and are very energyefficient.To prevent
congestion, special parking places for loading and unloading the distribution
vehicles will be built.The logistics centre from which the vehicles operate
will be established at the edge of the city centre. If the delivery service
using electric vehicles in the city centre is a success, the urban distribution
service's area of operation will be expanded into other areas of La Rochelle.
|
Anne Chané |