Urban consolidation centres (UCC) have often been highlighted as a solution to reducing freight vehicle kilometres, emissions, and congestion in urban areas. However, previous studies have presented vastly different results regarding the environmental and social benefits when UCCs are implemented. Therefore, this study aims to provide an overview of research on the sustainability assessment of UCCs, to describe dominant themes, and identify why assessments differ. A systematic literature review approach employing a content analysis was used to create the overview and identify the dominant themes in the quantification of the sustainability benefits of UCCs. As a complement, a cross-case analysis was applied to compare the results and to identify underlying differences between the studies. The content analysis revealed three dominant themes, relating to: (i) modelling aspects, (ii) different UCC set-ups, and (iii) the different performance measurements applied. Furthermore, improved consolidation is often described as the largest environmental benefit of implementing UCCs but our results show that the largest benefit can be found in switching to more environmentally friendly vehicles. However, the cross-case analysis revealed difficulties in determining the benefits of implementing UCCs because the assessment of benefits differ vastly between studies. These differences can be explained by the different scope of the system and whether or not other measures were implemented alongside a UCC. This review also highlights seven important gaps in the research that can be used to guide future research, such as a lack of methodological diversity, since most studies employ mathematical modelling, as well as a lack of transparency regarding input and output data. This is a barrier when evaluating the benefits of introducing UCCs.

Electrifying road freight transport can heavily reduce the sector's climate impact; however, there exist many uncertainties for making a large-scale transition, especially for logistics companies. In response, the purpose of this article is to identify and describe barriers to transition, but also strategies for how the barriers can be managed. To address the purpose, an interview study was carried out together with two complementary workshops to capture the views of relevant actors. Barriers to electrification are clustered into four separate areas: practical and technological barriers, financial barriers, institutional barriers, and social and cultural barriers. Low cost and high logistics performance are viewed as logistics companies' competitive advantages, but they are expected to be challenged when making the transition. The current structure of the transport chain also further complicates things: it is transaction-based and risks and benefits can occur in its different parts. This is an issue, since the actor that is forced to take risks is not always the actor that benefits the most. One way to manage this is for actors to form more long-term commitments through collaborations. Moreover, it can be advantageous to start electrifying subsystems that can be described as 'closed' and 'static', i.e. predictable and easy to control, such as transport between terminals. At the other end of the spectrum, subsystems that are 'open' and 'dynamic' are the ones that are most difficult to electrify.

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.

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.

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.

The transition to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) challenges current logistics systems and actors’ business models, especially logistics service providers (LSP). In response, the purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of the characteristics of critical factors in business models for LSPs when adapting electrified freight. A structured interview study targeting LSPs that are operating BEVs has been carried out. Eleven factors deemed as critical were identified in business model components, pointing to a need to take a holistic view when designing business models for electrified freight. Furthermore, four themes are identified that address how characteristics of logistics systems change when BEVs are adopted. This includes changes in uncertainty and complexity. To comply with the increased dynamic, the paper proposes a conceptual framework which captures the evolvement of the critical factors when the market matures by classifying them as constant, fading, adopting, and emerging. The critical factors and their evolvement can be used as guidelines for practitioners and researchers in their development of sustainable business models in the transfer towards electrified freight.

Purpose: Electrifying freight deliveries is viewed as a vital step in reducing the sector's environmental impact. However, the logistics systems are not uniform and different systems pose different challenges, thus likely to use different electrification strategies. The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to describe how different logistic systems relate to different electrification challenges, and what type of electrification strategy is suitable for which logistics systems.

Research Approach: The study uses a descriptive approach to create a framework with empirical data from two ongoing research projects through interviews, workshops, and seminars. Suitable electrification strategies for different logistics systems are determined. 

Findings and Originality: The proposed framework illustrates how different transport segments can be described and how the segments can be combined with charging strategies. Furthermore, by combining the segments and charging strategies, it is possible to identify suitable electrification strategies in different types of systems. 

Research Impact: This study takes a holistic view of logistics systems and electrification, to shed light on enablers and barriers for electrification of trucks in different types of logistics contexts. 

Practical Impact: The framework can build an understanding of aspects that must be considered in different systems and situations. It will help identify transport segments which are more or less suitable for electrification depending on how developed the public charging infrastructure is.