New Vehicle Concepts for Shanghai’s Last Mile

Excerpt

In Asian megacities, increasing globalisation effects are leading to rapidly increasing prosperity and increased purchasing power, and thus to a growing need for punctual, cost-effective and environmentally friendly delivery of the goods to the urban structures. Within the scope of the international student project globalDrive, a group of German and Chinese students did on site research on the current logistics situation in Chinese megacities (with Shanghai serving as an example). Requirements for new cargo vehicle concepts were identified, as well as new degrees of freedom for innovative mobility solutions. The project was carried out at the Technische Universität München and at the Tongji University of Shanghai, with financing from MAN Truck & Bus AG. The aim of the project was to build a prototype for an urban delivery vehicle. The diploma thesis on the design implementation of the vehicle concept for the last mile (from the concept to prototype) has been awarded with the 2014 Hermann-Appel Prize, awarded by IAV, in the category of future mobility. …