Sustainable Fleet Operations in the Postal Sector

34 Pages Posted: 10 May 2010 Last revised: 8 Jul 2012

See all articles by Vanessa Chocteau

Vanessa Chocteau

affiliation not provided to SSRN

David Drake

University of Colorado at Boulder - Leeds School of Business

Paul R. Kleindorfer

University of Pennsylvania - Operations & Information Management Department; Paul Dubrule Professor of Sustainable Development & Distinguished Research Professor at INSEAD

Renato J. Orsato

INSEAD

Alain Roset

La Poste

Date Written: March 10, 2011

Abstract

Fleet optimization for postal operators (POs) is an important effort towards sustainable transportation in several ways. First, of course, is its direct economic impact through investment, amortization and operating costs. Second, is its impact on the carbon footprint of the PO. While the evaluation of alternative fleet traction systems (e.g., fossil-fuel, hybrid and electric) is in many respects a relatively straightforward financial investment problem, there are additional complexities that make this problem an interesting research problem for sustainable energy. These include the uncertainties in market prices for various sources of energy, including emission credits for carbon leveraging of investments; the problem of infrastructure and support for new technologies; the intangible/reputation benefits of sustainable energy investments for POs; the problem of new technologies and learning effects and, finally; the nature of strategic partnerships and risk sharing that may be needed to achieve the requisite scale of operations to make low-carbon vehicles a feasible alternative for major fleet operators and for the automotive industry. Taking these features into account, this paper will describe a strategic framework for evaluating the possible transformation of postal fleet operations to hybrid or (pure) electric vehicles and present some initial results for this problem. .

Suggested Citation

Chocteau, Vanessa and Drake, David and Kleindorfer, Paul R. and Orsato, Renato J. and Roset, Alain, Sustainable Fleet Operations in the Postal Sector (March 10, 2011). INSEAD Working Paper No. 2011/32/TOM/INSEAD Social Innovation Centre, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1604064 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1604064

Vanessa Chocteau (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

David Drake

University of Colorado at Boulder - Leeds School of Business ( email )

Boulder, CO 80309-0419
United States

Paul R. Kleindorfer

University of Pennsylvania - Operations & Information Management Department ( email )

Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States

Paul Dubrule Professor of Sustainable Development & Distinguished Research Professor at INSEAD

Boulevard de Constance
77305 Fontainebleau Cedex
France

Renato J. Orsato

INSEAD ( email )

Boulevard de Constance
77305 Fontainebleau Cedex
France

Alain Roset

La Poste ( email )

France

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