Rapporten fokuserar på den kommersiella genomförbarheten av ett batteribytessystem för tunga lastbilar i Sverige. Genom att studera affärsmodeller, kompatibilitet med svenska regelverk och integration i transportverksamheten har vi utforskat hur disruptiva teknologier, ekosystemeffekter och cirkularitet skulle kunna möjliggöra en snabb introduktion och uppskalning av ett batteribytessystem. Ett särskilt fokus har legat på Kina för att analysera statusen för batteribyten och de processer som har lett till den snabba utvecklingen och uppskalningen där. I Kina krävde batteribyte en ny affärsmodell där aktörer såsom energiproducenter, batteritillverkare och maskinindustri går i spetsen för utvecklingen och spridningen av batteribyten. Batteribyte är nu den dominerande tekniken för eldrivna lastbilar i Kina.

Exempel på fördelar med batteribyte som förespråkas är att det bara tar några minuter att byta batteri, minskad investering för lastbilsägare, låg påverkan på det lokala elnätet och att fordons- och batterilivscykler separeras. En simuleringsstudie om batteribyte för tunga lastbilar i hamnverksamhet visar i denna rapport på tydliga fördelar jämfört med kabelladdning. Det finns dock ett par utmaningar med att införa batteribyte i Sverige. För det första finns det inga tydliga förespråkare för batteribyte inom industrin. Till exempel är de svenska och europeiska fordonstillverkarna tveksamma eftersom det utmanar deras nuvarande affärsmodell och att de kan ta rollen som grindvakter. För det andra omfattar inte de nuvarande standarderna och regelverken för fordon och energisystem i Sverige och i EU batteribyte. Rapporten tar också upp behovet av kunskap och utbildning av personer vid batteribytesstationer, samt vikten av social hållbarhet vid elektrifiering av tunga transporter.

The report focuses on the commercial feasibility of a battery-swapping system for heavy trucks in Sweden. By studying business models, the compatibility with Swedish regulations, and integration into transport operations, we explore how disruptive technologies, ecosystem effects, and circularity could enable a rapid introduction and diffusion of a battery-swapping system. A special focus is on China, covering the status of battery-swapping there and analysing the processes that have led to its rapid development and deployment. In China, battery-swapping creates a new business model where actors from energy production, battery manufacturing, and the mechanical industry spearhead the development and diffusion of the technology. Battery-swapping is now the dominant technology for electric trucks in China.

Advantages of battery-swapping include: only a few minutes battery swap time, reduced investment for truck owners, low impact on the local power grid, and separation of vehicle and battery life cycles. A simulation study in this report shows that battery-swapping for heavy trucks in harbour operations could offer clear advantages compared to cable charging. However, there are several challenges to introducing battery-swapping in Sweden. First, it has no clear promoters in the industry. Swedish and European vehicle manufacturers are hesitant because it challenges their current business model, and that they may instead take the role of gatekeeper. Second, current standards and regulatory frameworks for vehicles and energy systems in Sweden and in the European Union do not include battery-swapping. The report also addresses the need for knowledge and training of people at battery-swapping stations, and the importance of social sustainability in the electrification of heavy vehicle transport operations.

Aktörssamverkan är central för omställning mot en grönare transportsystem, exempelvis vid omställning till eldrift. En organisation i isolering har inte allt det som krävs för en omställning till eldrift, och resurser måste istället delas mellan centrala aktörer såsom fordonstillverkare, infrastrukturhållare och logistikföretag. En aktör har tekniken medan en annan kanske har kunskapen. Beroendet kan vara av olika karaktär och dess omfattning påverkas av exempelvis hur kritisk eller vanlig resursen är. Men på vilket sätt är dessa beroenden centralt vid valet av lösning? Laddning av batterier med sladd är det koncept som vi satsar främst på inom Europa, medan byte av batterier (battery swapping) är den teknik med störst genomslag i exempelvis Kina. Vi har jämfört vilken roll resursdelning har för dessa tekniker.Studien har jämfört resultat från två forskningsprojekt finansierade av Vinnova och Energimyndigheten. Båda projekten har haft arbetspaket som berör samverkan, samtidigt som de fokuserar olika former av tekniska lösningar. Empirin kommer från en strukturerad intervjustudie med 19 svenska logistikaktörer som testat sladdladdning, djupare intervjuer och workshops med olika aktörer från akademi och näringsliv. Empiriska data har analyserats utifrån Resource dependency theory.

E-commerce presents a fantastic opportunity for consumers to receive product deliveries anytime, anyhow and anywhere. However, a major challenge for all logistics systems is that of environmental sustainability, and for e-commerce, the distribution of products to consumers constitutes one of the largest environmental challenges. This chapter focusses on green distribution alternatives for consumers, and thereby provides an overview of how e-commerce can become more environmentally sustainable through offering such alternatives. The chapter starts by pointing to two major trends behind the greening of e-commerce: the growth of e-commerce itself and the increasing societal and corporate concern for environmental sustainability. Building on a series of studies of e-commerce development on the Swedish market, the perspectives of consumers, retailers and logistics service providers paint a broad picture of e-commerce delivery. Finally, today’s as well as potential future challenges for sustainable e-commerce deliveries are discussed.

Purpose: While fast deliveries have become the norm within e-commerce, research suggests speed might hinder environmental sustainability of last-mile logistics. To better understand how fast delivery options matter to consumers, two research questions are addressed: 1) What time-related aspects of e-commerce can consumers encounter during an online purchase? 2) What implications can these time-related aspects of e-commerce have on the environmental sustainability of last-mile deliveries?

Design/methodology/approach: Time-based diaries by consumers include detailed information about the consumers’ online purchases, from order to delivery, during several weeks. Theoretically, the paper draws on literature into e-commerce and green logistics.

Findings: Preliminary findings reveal two main categories of time-related aspects perceived by consumers in their online purchases: urgency and timing of delivery. While urgency was found important in some cases, not all consumers appear to need fast deliveries. Moreover, consumers can get spoiled by the fast deliveries offered to consumers. Respondents were positively surprised by how fast they got their deliveries. It also appeared that consumers coordinate pick up of parcels with other errands, limiting the need for additional private transport.

Research limitations/implications (if applicable): Research implications include contributions to the logistics literature, in which the time-related aspects of last-mile logistics in relation to environmental impact have been given surprisingly limited attention.

Practical implications (if applicable): Retailers and transport operators can use the results to question the prevailing time-focus within e-commerce.

Original/value: Insights regarding consumers’ time expectations adds to increased knowledge of service level in last-mile logistics.

Purpose: Among a multitude of initiatives that can contribute to decarbonize freight transport (McKinnon, 2018), electrification has surficed as a main strategy (Li et al, 2022). The transition towards electrification has commenced, but in particular for long-haul transportation it is slow. Obstacles to the transition include the price of the new technology, lack of infrastructure and lack of policy incentives. In addition, the technology is new to all actors. This new-ness, together with the acknowledged complexity of the transition to electrified freight proposes learning challenges for all involved actors, for example vehicle manufacturers, haulier firms, logistics service providers and shippers. The necessary knowledge to navigate and operate the freight transport system cannot reside in one single orchestrator of the supply chain, but must be shared among actors, which in turn highlight the need for interaction with the purpose to share knowledge and experiences, and to jointly build new knowledge. 

This paper aims to address how learning among actors in the supply chain can contribute to accelerate the electrification of freight transport.

Design / Methodology / Approach: This conceotual paper presents a framework for describing and analysing learning between actors in a supply chain. The framework takes a stance in a model for organisational learning (Crossan, Lane & White, 1999) adapted to the context of inter-organisational learning. This model will be adapted to the context of electrification of freight based on findings from a range of ongoing research projects into electrification of freight transport. 

Findings: The paper presents a model for describing and analysing learning between organisations in a supply chain. The model is conceptual and is intended to be used for analysing multi-actor learning processes in the context of electrification of freight.

Practical implications: The results of the paper include suggestions for how learning between actors in supply chains can increase, by which the transition towards electrification of freight can be accelerated.

Relevance / Contribution: Supply chain collaboration has only scaresly been analysed with a learning perspective. The application of learning as mechanisms for supply chain integration in a context of ongoing transition suggests that the results are both novel and relevant.

While electrification of freight deliveries has the potential to heavily reduce the sector's negative impact, there is a clear lack of understanding how logistics systems are affected when electric freight vehicles are implemented. The purpose of the paper is to present an overview of the area and identify major gaps in the literature. A systematic literature review was conducted, with an initial sample of 353 papers, finally resulting in 62 papers after several exclusion steps. A descriptive analysis showed that the area is growing fast and that a vast majority of the papers applied mathematical methods with transport data. Further, five categories were deemed of interest in relation to logistics and electrification in the analysed literature: transport operation, charging, cost, actors, and sustainability. Each category is elaborated on and described in the paper. Additionally, the discussion includes several research gaps that the paper proposes need to be addressed to achieve viable electrified logistics systems and the gaps resulted in a research agenda with seven bullet points aiming to guide future research. The research agenda include, how planning of logistics systems is affected when charging is included; how logistics performance is affected when adopting electric trucks, and there is a need to include actors and their perspectives to a larger extent than what is done in the current literature. By highlighting what is missing in the literature, this paper strives to be an important addition to achieve viable electrified logistics systems, which can ultimately lead to a reduction of the freight sector's negative climate impact.

This paper explores time-related aspects of e-commerce and their impact on the environmental sustainability of last-mile deliveries. It addresses two key questions: 1) What time-related aspects of e-commerce can consumers encounter during an online purchase?, and 2) What implications can these time-related aspects of e-commerce have on the sustainability of last-mile deliveries? The study uses diary entries from 15 Swedish e-commerce consumers over one month, followed by semi-structured interviews. Findings reveal that consumers encounter various time-related factors throughout the purchasing process, from the website to delivery, with some of these factors having significant implications for the environmental sustainability of last-mile deliveries.

Electrification of freight transport is a way to heavily reduce the freight sector's environmental impact. However, charging of electric trucks is a major challenge, and charge point operator (CPO) thereby become crucial in electrified logistics systems. This study explored different actors in the position of CPO, what is required, and what roles they take. An embedded case study was used, based on interviews with 20 respondents. The results show that a wide variety of actors can position themselves as CPO and in different charging set-ups, where, for example, logistics service providers (LSPs) could utilize private charging at terminal, while also offer public charging along the road network. Other actors expected to take a role as CPO include shipper, fuel stations, energy companies, and truck manufacturers. In terms of resources, activities, and interaction for CPOs, these coincided to a large extent among actors, such as necessary possession of charging hardware and software, and necessary interaction power grid actors. Furthermore, this study suggests five distinctive roles of CPOs that actors take: gatekeeper, accessory provider, contributor, facilitator, and orchestrator. By focusing on the unexplored role of CPO, this study has important implications for both research and practice.

Purpose: Electrification of freight trucks challenges logistics systems in many ways, for example the trucks have limited range, reduced payload, and charging needs to be included in the system. Current actors must adjust to new prerequisites while new actors enter the system, such as energy suppliers. Hence, there is a need to build an understanding of electrified logistics systems by focus on how central actors are connected to it. The purpose of the paper is to describe electrified logistics systems through an actor perspective.

Research Approach: The paper targets how an electrified logistics system can be described and how actors are connected to the system. Empirical data is collected through interviews and workshops with representatives from actors who are actively working with electrification of freight transports.  

Findings and Originality: The findings showed that both traditional actors, such as logistics companies and transport buyers, and new actors, such as energy suppliers and charge point operators, are important in electrified logistics systems. Through conceptualisation of logistics systems and how actors are connected the system, the findings present a five-layer model.

Research Impact: The paper provides a comprehensive identification of actors involved in electrification of freight transport, as well as, highlighting actors that are more central in the transition, something missing in the current literature.  

Practical Impact: Electrification forces logistics practitioners to alter their view of the logistic system and its actors. This paper provides a holistic view of the complex logistics systems the actors are a part of and can thereby help practitioners adjust to new prerequisites.

Inom ramen för det VINNOVA-finansierade projektet ”Hållbar distribution i e-handeln: Hur kan klimatsmarta leveransalternativ underlättas” (HELSMART) har syftet varit att ta fram kunskap om hur e-handlare kan utforma och presentera klimatsmarta leveransalternativ till konsumenter för att minimera klimatpåverkan från e-handelsdistributionen, och på så sätt bidra till ett fossilfritt samhälle. I denna rapport presenteras resultaten från projektet, som pågått under 2020-2023 och som varit ett samarbete mellan Linköpings Universitet och Stockholms Universitet. 

Projektet har kombinerat olika datainsamlingsmetoder, vilket gett möjlighet att förstå utmaningen med hållbara e-handelsleveranser ur olika perspektiv. Metoderna inkluderar dels en genomgång av e-handlares hemsidor, dels fallstudier och intervjuer med e-handlare, logistikföretag och transportplattformsföretag, och dels konsumentdata från faktiska köp före och efter introduktionen av ”miljömärkning” av leveranser. Sammantaget har det här projektet följt utvecklingen av miljömässigt hållbar e-handelsdistribution i en svensk kontext under de senaste nästan fyra åren. 

Resultaten visar att det finns en enorm komplexitet kopplat till miljömässigt hållbara leveransalternativ. För att belysa denna komplexitet så presenteras i rapporten en process som beskriver tre steg för att kunna utforma och presentera klimatsmarta leveransalternativ till konsumenter. Dessa innefattar: 

1. Identifiera miljömässigt hållbara leveransalternativ, 
2. Erbjuda miljömässigt hållbara leveransalternativ till konsumenter, och 
3. Vägleda konsumenters val av miljömässigt hållbara leveransalternativ. 

Genomgång av de tre stegen leder sedan fram till en avslutande diskussion där fyra centrala budskap lyfts. För det första är det inte självklart vad som menas med miljömässigt hållbar leverans. Här finns t.ex. oklarheter i vad man är ute efter att minimera när man vill uppnå miljömässigt hållbara leveranser, och om och hur det går att jämföra olika logistikföretags utsläpp på ett rättvisande sätt. För det andra så befinner sig e-handlarna inte i ett vakuum utan är beroende av andra aktörer, vilket gör att de slutgiltiga utsläppen beror på beslut från en mängd olika och starkt skilda beslutsfattare. För det tredje så skapar externa märkningar transparens, samtidigt som de riskerar att skapa förvirring. För samtidigt som externa märkningar har sina fördelar, så kan de också leda till att för många typer av miljömässigt hållbara leveransalternativ kommuniceras parallellt. För det fjärde så visar resultaten att hållbara leveransalternativ är viktiga för konsumenter, men inte lika viktigt som allt annat. Men genom att placera det miljömässigt hållbara leveransalternativet högst upp i checkouten och markera det som förvalt, så ökar sannolikheten för att konsumenter ska välja detta alternativ. Små knuffar på tillräckligt många kan på sikt ha enormt stor effekt på totala utsläpp.