C.E. Ameln

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Master thesis (1)

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Claus - Enabling last-mile delivery in urban environments with limited mobility access

Master thesis (2022) - C.E. Ameln , A.L.M. Minnoye , J.J.F. van Dam , F. Mahn , W.J. Schoonhoven

In this report the development and design of Claus is presented. Claus is an auxiliary drive train module for last-mile delivery hand trucks. The objective of the concept is to enable delivery workers to deliver parcels to the growing amount of addresses in urban environments with limited mobility access.

Due to the combination of urbanization, the rising popularity of e-commerce and rising congestion levels in cities, delivery companies are increasingly struggling to transport their goods to the customer. Conventional delivery fleets, consisting of big delivery vans to handle the rising delivery volumes, are not suited to the urban environment anymore as cities are undergoing rising congestion rates and as automobiles are becoming a less prioritized mode of transport. Consequently, delivery workers have to cover larger distances from the van to the front door of the customer by foot. Usually, delivery workers use hand trucks to cover these last meters, but as these distances increase, walking the hand truck becomes a time consuming job.
Claus is proposed as a solution for this last leg of parcel delivery. Claus is an auxiliary module with a built in electric drive train that connects to any regular hand truck. By connecting Claus to a hand truck, a four-wheel vehicle is created that can transport a the delivery worker along with his or her cargo. The hand truck acts as both the cargo carrier as well as the steering device, while Claus acts as a standing deck and a drive train. Thanks to Claus’ geometry and volume, Claus can be transported in a conventional delivery van similarly to the hand truck. By bringing both a hand truck and Claus during delivery shifts, delivery workers are enabled to quickly and easily cover areas that are becoming less accessible to delivery vans.

Two prototypes were created that were used to validate the concept. A technical prototype acted as a means to validate the driving characteristics and the ergonomics. Furthermore, it was used to validate technical aspects such as the battery capacity and the drive train system. An aesthetic prototype was used to communicate the design to the stakeholders.