Cleaner deliveries rolling through Eastern Market
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Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios
The vibrant scene at Eastern Market is familiar to many Detroiters. But behind the bustle are forklifts, pallets and delivery trucks that transport food daily.
Why it matters: The market's food distribution system has been at the center of a three-year global competition in cleaner urban logistics.
- Winners in each city will be announced in March and split $1.5 million in funding.
State of play: Detroit was one of three cities worldwide selected for the Toyota Mobility Foundation's Sustainable Cities Challenge, a competition to help solve local mobility challenges.
- The competition's other two cities are Varanasi, India and Venice, Italy.
- Four Detroit finalists were picked last summer to deploy their technology at Eastern Market to show how it can reduce diesel use and lower freight costs.
Between the lines: Although Eastern Market is one of Detroit's best-known attractions, its food production and distribution network involves short trips, idling trucks and partially filled loads — all of which contribute to air pollution and congestion.
Behind the scenes: From midnight through early morning, pallets of produce and packaged food are moved shed-to-shed, vendor-to-vendor, often using forklifts and box trucks designed for much longer hauls.
- The conditions make the area ideal for testing "clean freight" strategies.
Detroit's four finalists offer distinct solutions.
- Orange Sparkle Ball is testing a software platform that dispatches small electric vehicles for short freight and waste trips.
- Civilized Cycles is piloting an e-trike and trailer system designed to replace some van-scale deliveries.
- ElectricFish Energy has installed a high-speed EV charger that sidesteps major grid upgrades.
- Neology is demonstrating a hydrogen-based power system aimed at longer-term heavy-duty freight needs.
What they're saying: The long-term vision is for a "blended future," with these types of solutions integral to the city's freight network beyond Eastern Market to the riverfront, Belle Isle and beyond.
- "I think we very much see roles for this kind of micro mobility alongside cars and other vehicles," Vince Keenan, of the Detroit Office of Mobility Innovation, tells Axios Detroit.