Sustainability transitions in urban goods distribution

Electric truck on Swedish winter roads
Volvo FH Electric Photographer: Volvo Truck Corporation

The project adopts a systems perspective on electrified freight transport with the aim of contributing to knowledge on how to accelerate transitions.

Freight transport accounts for a significant use of fossil fuels and emissions of greenhouse gases. To meet national and international climate targets that prescribe drastically reduced emissions, it is necessary to transition and introduce new solutions. Electric propulsion is often highlighted as a promising technical solution; electric trucks are commercially available for urban freight transport and are on the verge of becoming commercially available for other applications as well. The development is rapid and the interest in electric trucks is significant, but large-scale implementation requires collaboration between a multitude of different actors.

The project takes a systems perspective on electrified freight transport with the aim of contributing to knowledge on how to accelerate transitions. Electrified freight transport requires the establishment of systems where new relationships and interfaces are established between vehicle manufacturers, charging equipment manufacturers, hauliers, freight forwarders, electrical grid operators, charging service companies, urban planners, and authorities. The need to develop relationships and interfaces, while climate targets require that development must be expedited, means that forms of collaboration are needed that enable the synchronisation of initiatives and activities at different levels.

The project studies how such forms of collaboration emerge, and how they can enable the necessary interaction that facilitates the articulation of preferences, the development of new business models, and changes in infrastructure, regulations, and political instruments. The focus is on local initiatives and experiences, and how these relate to sector-wide development patterns and trends at national and international levels.

The project runs from April 2021 to December 2024.

The project involves three universities: 
Linköping University 
Chalmers University of Technology
Halmstad University

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