IT Operational Support System for Last Mile Transportation constructed and Demonstration Operation commenced in India

Traffic congestion and air pollution caused by it have become serious social problems in India especially in urban areas, due to its rapid economic growth. To solve these problems, policies to promote the wide use of e-mobility^*1 which has low environmental load and expansion of the metro network are being implemented. Furthermore, to promote the use of public transport such as the metro system, it is important to concurrently develop last mile^*2 transportation. 

However, the current last mile transportation, such as “auto-rickshaws” of three-wheeled vehicles running on natural gas and the e-mobility is still lacking in convenience and reliability. Thus, local residents tend to use their own cars, taxis, or ride-sharing service, etc. to directly move from the riding point to the destination rather than to fully utilize last mile transportation. It has allowed the traffic volume to significantly increase and rendered the congestion and air pollution much serious, leading to a downward spiral, in comparison with the cases that use public transportation and last mile transportation.

Under these circumstances, NEDO and the Transport Department, Government of NCT of Delhi in India exchanged letters of Intent (LOI) in December 2022 to carry out a demonstration project, which is called International Demonstration Project on Japan's Energy Efficiency Technologies^*3, on the IT system for e-mobility with the aim of improving passenger's convenience and transportation efficiency in last mile transportation. Afterwards Panasonic HD, a subsidized company that is responsible for implementing the project, and ETO Motors, a local cooperating company that manufactures and operates e-mobility vehicles, have concluded a project agreement (PA).

Subsequently, Panasonic HD and ETO Motors launched^*4 a demonstration project last year utilizing the IT system for e-mobility in last mile transportation in the areas around the Kalkaji Mandir metro station. An object of the demonstration operation is e-mobility connecting departure points or destination points and Kalkaji Mandir metro station, including three other nearby stations (Okhla NSIC, Nehru Enclave and Nehru Place). The project aims to enhance both passenger's convenience and transportation efficiency to increase the number of e-mobility and Delhi metro users by introducing and operating the IT system so it should result in improving traffic congestion and reducing GHG emissions.

The IT system introduced in the project is a cloud system that includes functions of on-demand service management, vehicle arrangement algorithms and battery management. The cloud system loads the authentication and information (charging log) to use the e-mobility charger and the information on e-mobility vehicle/operation such as trip log, operation log and battery data via mobile communication. And it also provides the following functions via three apps for operators (vehicle service operators), drivers and passengers respectively ^{(see Fig.1)}.

(1) Operator app: Vehicle management / operation, battery management

(2) Driver app: Demand-supply mapping, display of remaining battery capacity information with high-precision, cashless settlement

(3) User app: Vehicle availability information, vehicle reservation,
cashless payment

Panasonic HD has been collecting basic data on passenger services (e.g. e-mobility operating status, time and amount of charging etc.) for last mile transportation utilizing e-mobility while actually setting up the IT system in parallel.

To collect baseline data prior to the introduction of the IT system, Panasonic HD had first created a service environment together with ETO Motors, as well as operationally managed e-mobility and placed charging stations, and then gradually rolled out passenger services since May 2023. At that time, drivers manually recorded e-mobility operation data on papers, such as the number of passengers, trip distance and time, in addition to the time and amount of charging, which was later compiled by the operators as basic data.

Meanwhile, regarding the construction of the IT system, Panasonic HD has been customizing the respective functions of above-mentioned three apps which are the fundamentals of this system, and deleting unnecessary functions and adding new ones, while conducting trial test runs to adjust and improve the coordination between the applications.

The demonstration operation will verify the expected effects such as increase in passenger numbers, improved operational efficiency (increase in vehicle operating time, decrease in time to destination) and reduction in operation cost (decrease in manpower of operators, increase in battery usage time) are verified by comparing the data collected during the demonstration operation with the baseline data collected before the system was introduced and will also improve and optimize the IT system to further enhance its effectiveness.

As a result of the project, an increase in drivers’ earnings is expected by enhancing both passenger’s convenience and transportation efficiency in last mile transportation. The project also aims to improve traffic congestion, air pollution, and reduce GHG emissions^*5 by stimulating the usage of e-mobility and Delhi Metro for last mile transportation.

An opening ceremony was held today at the Delhi Convention Centre to mark the start of the demonstration operation of the IT system for e-mobility in the presence of a large number of parties concerned. The ceremony included speeches by several participants. Panasonic HD and ETO Motors presented an overview of the project and the benefits expected from the implementation of the IT system.

*1 E-mobility
E-mobility is an abbreviation of "electro-mobility," meaning electric vehicles. It is a generic term for electric vehicles (EV), electric motorcycles, electric buses, electric trucks, and so on.

*2 Last mile
Last mile is an abbreviation of "last one mile." In the field of transportation, it means the section from the nearest station to the destination. In this news release, it also includes the section from a point of departure to the nearest station (first one mile).

*3 International Demonstration Project on Japan's Energy Efficiency Technologies

Project name: International Demonstration Project on Japan's Energy Efficiency Technologies / Demonstration project for IT system to realize efficient operation management of e-mobility for last-mile transportation in India [Subsidization project]

Project period: FY2021 to FY2023

Project overview: https://www.nedo.go.jp/english/activities/activities_AT1_00175.html

*4 Commencement of the demonstration project
(Reference)
NEDO release (January 5, 2023) "Demonstration Project to realize Efficient Operation Support by IT System for Last Mile Transportation launched in India”
https://www.nedo.go.jp/english/news/AA5en_100453.html
Panasonic HD release (January 5, 2023) "Demonstration Project to realize Efficient Operation Support by IT System for Last Mile Transportation launched in India”
https://news.panasonic.com/global/press/en230105-5

*5 Reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
By introducing the IT operation support system in the demonstration project, it is expected to reduce the direct movement from the riding point to the destination by using private cars, taxis, ride-sharing services, etc., and to promote efficient movement using metro transportation and e-mobility. In the project, the annual reduction of Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the last mile section is assumed to be about 260 tons when using 40 e-mobility units.