Economics

Economics

Transport:

It takes energy to transport materials.
Transport systems are built with routes.
The vehicles have a specific size.

The size of the vehicle affects the transport cost, much more than the amount of materials transported.
Therefore, if the vehicle is underutilized, transport cost will be higher than optimal in the long run.

Idea

Think about E = m.a.x. m = m_vehicle + m_load. The m_vehicle is the efficiency loss.

If there were such a vehicle that, m_vehicle is proportional to m_load, with the ratio m_vehicle/m_load less than that of a fully loaded conventional vehicle, then we would have a fully efficient vehicle.