Civil Engineering Departmental Seminar - Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) for Metropolitan Package Delivery: Economic, Energy, Climate, and Community Noise Impacts and Implications

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) for Metropolitan Package Delivery: Economic, Energy, Climate, and Community Noise Impacts and Implications

The rise of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) has opened up the possibility of using electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOLs) for package delivery in urban areas. However, there is a lack of understanding about the suitability and operation of an eVTOL-based package delivery system. In this talk, we will discuss our recent study on the economic, energy, and climate impacts of using eVTOLs for package delivery. We propose a two-leg system design that uses an integer programming model to specify eVTOL and ground vehicle types, their cost economics, and their energy use and CO2 emission characteristics. I will also present an operational planning framework for eVTOL-based package delivery to be both economically efficient and community friendly, in terms of the noise impact of eVTOL operations on people surrounding vertiports. We implement the models in the Chicago metro region and find that the attractiveness of eVTOL-based package delivery depends on various factors such as eVTOL and ground vehicle choices and key system inputs. Numerical results also reveal the cost-noise tradeoff and other operational insights about eVTOL-based package delivery.