Electrification will potentially reshape logistics companies’ rout planning and relation to both customers, grid owners, and vehicle manufacturers. Henrik Gillström, Assistant professor at Linköping University, leads an SEC funded project where he explains the coming new reality of logistics.
With a focus on trucks with electric batteries, Henrik Gillström investigates what is needed for electrification of the logistics industry.
“I want to map up how the logistics sector can look like going fully electric. Which are the paths forward and where do we have the main barriers? It is an exciting field and there is a lot of interest in the topic from SEC’s partners and others too”, says Henrik Gillström.
SEC partners in this project are Scania, Volvo Cars, Volvo Group, Titan X, Vattenfall and Cevt, contributing with knowledge from their perspectives of the electrification of transportation and logistics.
“All logistics systems are different, and I try to describe what is needed in the different cases and different phases of the electrification of the logistics sector. A main question is “when is electrification suitable?”, says Henrik Gillström.
Closed and open systems
One main difference is between closed and open systems. Closed being the routs that go between two set points, such as dairy logistics between farm and factory. Here, charging stations can easily be planned because you know from the start what capacity will be needed at what point. The open systems are the harder ones.
“For example, when you do long-distance transports, or transportation with multiple delivery stops, it may be hard to know beforehand where you will be when you need to charge. Is it for instance possible to charge at your customers location? We need to understand more than just the transportation part of it. Customers can become providers and the whole logistics chain may be involving new stake holders and services. Perhaps logistics companies have to start collaborating and share data with their customers, energy companies and grid owners in a new way”, says Henrik Gillström.
SEC – a good arena
One main part of getting the full picture of electrification of the logistics industry is to map the barriers that prevent the transition to happen. Henrik Gillström is now eager to collaborate with SEC’s partners and will reach out through workshops and presentations throughout the rest of the project.
“SEC is a very good arena to be able to reach the companies. We can have workshops and discuss with the companies. Logistic companies are not yet engaged in SEC but it would be interesting to hear their thoughts too”, he says.
Here is Henrik’s list of main barriers to overcome to succeed.
Practical and technological barriers
- Miss-match of characteristics of transport systems(conventional andelectric)
- Limited range
- Risk of loss of freight capacity
Financial barriers
- Large investment cost for electric vehicles
- Logistics sector is a low-margin business
- Structure of logistics sector, logistics service providers vs. hauliers, who should pay?
Institutional barriers
- How can the inherent risk be shared between companies?
- A need to collaborate to a larger degree with different actors
Cultural andsocial barriers
- Patriotic sector with strong connection to the vehicles
- Many small hauliers, lack of resources can affect the ability to transition