Technology

# How Better Planning Improves Last-Mile EV Delivery

Doormile Team
Oct 2, 2025
2 min read

The last mile is already difficult to plan. With electric vehicles, the team also has to think about battery range, charging time, rider load, traffic, and delivery windows. Good planning turns those moving parts into a workable dispatch plan.

For a long time, last-mile planning depended on dispatchers, spreadsheets, and local experience. That experience still matters. The problem is that it gets stretched thin when order volume rises and the fleet includes EVs.

## The shift from fixed rules to daily planning

A fixed-zone plan may look clean in the morning, but the road rarely follows the plan. A rider may get delayed near Hitec City, a gated community may hold a vehicle for ten extra minutes, or a battery may drain faster because the load is heavier than usual.

- Order volumes by area, time slot, and customer type
- Travel times based on the city's actual traffic patterns
- Battery use by vehicle type, rider load, and route length
- Feedback from completed deliveries, failed attempts, and late arrivals

### Adjusting during the day

The first plan is only the starting point. By 11 a.m., traffic may change, a high-priority order may arrive, or one vehicle may return with less charge than expected. The dispatch team needs a way to adjust without rebuilding the whole day by hand.

During peak traffic hours in Hyderabad, some vehicles were arriving 20 to 30 minutes later than planned. By adjusting routes based on live traffic and battery levels, the hub reduced missed delivery windows and improved on-time performance.

EV route plans need to account for range, load, traffic, and charging time before riders leave the hub.

> With EVs, a route is only useful if the vehicle can finish it and still return safely.

> Doormile Operations

## What this means for operators

For a fleet manager, this is not about fancy software. It is about fewer emergency calls, fewer mid-route swaps, and fewer customers asking why their delivery missed the promised window.

1. Record delivery times, failed attempts, traffic delays, and charging cycles.
2. Build travel-time estimates from the areas your riders actually serve.
3. Check every route against battery capacity before dispatch.
4. Replan when traffic, orders, or vehicle availability changes.

The fleets that improve fastest are usually not the ones adding vehicles first. They are the ones removing wasted distance, planning charging properly, and giving riders routes they can complete on time.