AI Planning Slashes Electric Fleet Costs

A new study by technology company Einride and the renowned German research institute Fraunhofer ISI has revealed that artificial intelligence is the key to unlocking scalable and cost-effective electric freight. Using real-world logistics data from grocery retailer REWE, the study is the first to quantitatively demonstrate that optimizing transport planning at a fleet level, rather than a simple truck-by-truck replacement, significantly boosts efficiency and reduces costs.

Key Highlights

  • The study confirmed that AI-powered planning can lower the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by 8-13% compared to traditional diesel operations.
  • Using Einride’s Planning AI, electric trucks handled up to 85% of total payload and 54% of total mileage, vastly outperforming a one-to-one replacement strategy.
  • The AI-driven approach makes investments in charging infrastructure more effective, reducing reliance on costly fast chargers to achieve high electrification rates.
  • The research analyzed over 38,000 shipments and the patterns of more than 200 vehicles for REWE, serving over 500 locations near Berlin, Germany.
AI Planning Slashes Electric Fleet Costs

The Power of Intelligent Fleet-Level Planning

At the heart of the study’s findings is Einride’s advanced Planning AI engine, a software platform that re-imagines how freight operations are planned and managed. Unlike standard industry methods that simply swap diesel trucks for electric ones, Einride’s AI takes a holistic, fleet-wide view. It integrates vehicle characteristics, real-time shipment data, and energy constraints to develop highly coordinated schedules for every asset in the system.

This intelligent optimization boosts asset utilization and fine-tunes charging schedules, enabling electric operations that are more cost-effective and scalable than the industry standard. “With this study, we’re not just saying AI will transform freight, we’re proving it with data,” said Roozbeh Charli, CEO at Einride.

Quantifiable Performance and Cost Savings

The data clearly shows the superiority of an AI-optimized approach. Fleets optimized by Einride’s Planning AI achieved significant electrification rates, handling up to 85% of payload with electric vehicles. In contrast, a direct one-to-one replacement approach only managed 57% of the payload.

These operational efficiencies translate directly to financial benefits. The intelligently replanned system resulted in an 8-13% reduction in the fleet-level TCO compared to an all-diesel baseline. The simpler 1:1 replacement yielded only 3% savings, which was highly dependent on CAPEX subsidies. Crucially, the study found that even without subsidies, fleets planned with Einride’s technology remained cost-competitive with diesel-only operations, showcasing the system’s resilience to market and policy shifts.

A New Standard for Freight Decarbonization

The study’s results underscore a critical message for the logistics industry: software and intelligent planning are more impactful than hardware alone. “The results of our study make it clear that if fleet operators switch…to electric trucks, they should also optimize their routes to save costs,” stated Prof. Dr. Patrick Plötz of Fraunhofer ISI. He noted that planning software integrating route and charging has a “significantly greater impact” than uncoordinated infrastructure expansion or larger batteries.

For partners like REWE, economic efficiency is a primary driver for sustainable transformation. The study provides a data-backed blueprint for how companies can successfully decarbonize their road freight operations without sacrificing their bottom line.

The full published study can be found here.

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