The purpose of this study is to investigate how children's rights and their opportunities for active travel can be met in transport and urban planning. The project includes four sub-projects: a literature study, description of methods, workshops with civil servants and interviews with actors in traffic and urban planning.

Previous studies shows that children's health and well-being are affected by the physical and social environment. A child-friendly environment promotes active travel and improves children's health. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which became law in Sweden 2020, requires that children are involved in decisions that affect them. Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) are used to put the convention into practice, although application varies between municipalities. Clear political objectives, further training, and cooperation are crucial to ensuring that the best interests of the child are considered.

Methods and tools to highlight children's interests are presented, including dialogue-based methods, place-based methods, and GIS-based tools. Dialogues with children can be time-consuming but are crucial for understanding their experiences. Place-based methods assess the qualities of physical places, while GIS tools visualize geographical data. Combining these methods provides a comprehensive picture of children's needs. Workshops with officials from three municipalities discussed these methods. Participants emphasize the importance of understanding how children use their physical space and noted that site visits can identify deficiencies in safety and traffic security. GIS methods are regarded as useful in order to obtain an overall picture of children’s needs and preferences and could be combined with other methods to identify conflict of interest.

Interviews with officials and politicians showed that schools are important actors for establishing contact with children. Obstacles include a lack of resources and competence, as well as some reluctance to involve children. The Convention on the Rights of the Child supports working with children's issues, but the application of CRIA needs to be systematized.

The report concludes with four recommendations to strengthen work with the child perspective: early dialogue and continuous work, competence on children's needs, anchoring decisions at all levels, and combining methods for broader insights.

VTI:s grundläggande uppgift är att bedriva forskning, utveckling och innovation som medverkar till att transportsektorn kan utvecklas i den riktning som anges av transportpolitiska målsättningar på olika nivåer. I VTI:s ResultatÅterkoppling för 2024 (RÅ24) sammanställer vi för andra gången samtliga sammanfattningar (abstracts) från artiklar i internationella vetenskapliga tidskrifter där VTI-forskare har medverkat. Utöver i vetenskapliga tidskrifter rapporteras resultat från VTI:s forskning även i andra former av publikationer, i första hand i VTI:s egna publikationsserier. Allt publicerat material från VTI återfinns i Digitala vetenskapliga arkivet (DiVA). Resultatåterkopplingen visar både på djupet och bredden i VTI:s forskningsverksamhet och ger en god och aktuell vägledning för fördjupningar inom de forskningsområden som berörs. Genom sammanställningen förbättras förutsättningarna för att resultaten från VTI:s forskning kan användas för fortsatt utveckling av transportsektorn i bred bemärkelse.

Introduction: Persons living with spinal cord injury (SCI) often lacks access to outdoor mobility, which can significantly impact their ability to participate in activities outside the home, to take part in their community, and to have meaningful occupations and relationships with loved ones.

Purpose: To better understand the importance of outdoor mobility for persons with SCI, the aim of this cross-sectional study was to explore transport modes, car adaptations, and their perceived function and safety.

Method: A web-survey, addressing outdoor mobility and driving, was distributed among people with different physical impairments. Of 274 responses, a total of 93 reported living with SCI and were selected for this study.

Results: Public transportation was often underutilized due to inaccessibility and distance. In total, 88 persons (95%) owned a car. Almost everyone used their car weekly (97%) and the annual average driving distance was 17,400 km (SD 22,820 km). Most of the car owners had a station wagon (63%) or van/minibus (27%) and larger vehicles were more common among those needing extensive adaptations (p = 0.014).

Discussion: The results corroborate earlier findings on public transport for persons living with SCI and the importance of their having a suitably modified vehicle. The results also offer insights into outdoor mobility and car driving among persons with SCI in Sweden that can support accessibility planning and promote innovations in transport options. Persons living with SCI and other physical impairments could benefit from a comprehensive, national-level knowledge base that encompasses outdoor mobility and car adaptations and their implications for these populations.

Increasingly connected vehicles offer drivers benefits related to safety, navigation, and maintenance. They also provide policymakers new opportunities to trace and modify behavior using data insights. For such efforts to be effective, policymakers need access to policy instruments. These instruments must also be adopted by regulated entities such as technology providers, vehicle manufacturers, and drivers. Reuse and scaling across jurisdictional boundaries are crucial for the efficient development, adoption, and use of these digital tools. However, establishing digital tools that scale across diverse contexts requires navigating trade-offs between generalization to meet global demands and specialization to provide desired functionality. Using digital trace data and interviews, we conducted a longitudinal study of the development of the Mobility Data Specification standard for, freefloating e-scooters, over three years. We identified four key instrument tensions related to privacy, scope, richness, and the pace of evolution. We detail the nature of these tensions, analyze how they were mitigated, and suggest implications for the development of digital regulatory tools that span jurisdictional boundaries.

Algoritmer för att utvärdera beräkningsresultat från bullerkartläggningar med avseende på antal boende över vissa nivåer, respektive antal boende som har tillgång till tyst sida, redovisas och belyses med beräkningsexempel.

Despite their historical importance, the widespread use of volcanic materials as Supplementary Cementitious Materials faces challenges. There exists a knowledge gap relating the properties such as chemical compositions, mineralogy, physical attributes (effective particle size distribution, and specific surface areas) with reactivity. The current study investigates the correlation between noted properties when physical properties are altered by mechanochemical treatments applied to four unique volcanic materials with diverse mineralogy including Albite, Anorthite, Andesine, Oligoclase and Olivine. The alterations in these properties are then linked to changes in the reactivity levels of volcanic materials. The key findings emphasize that grinding volcanic materials for up to 20 min can result in significant improvements. The following outlines the most notable changes observed from 5 min to 20 min: a decrease in D50 from 37 μm to 9 μm, an increase in surface area from 4 m2/g to 13 m2/g, and a rise in average degree of amorphization of the four volcanic materials from 70 % to 83 %. Progressive increases in reactivity levels were observed when extending the milling time from 5 to 20 min, with the most significant increase showing a change from 56 J/g to 350 J/g SCM, as measured with the MR3 reactivity test. X-ray diffraction analyses reveal the detection of new phases like Magnetite and Iron with prolonged mechanochemical activation, and the reaction of mineral phases over time, in MR3 mixes. 

Burnout is caused by long term psychosocial stress and has, besides the fatigue and mental health burden, been associated with increased risk of adverse physical health, such as for example type 2 diabetes. This study aims to investigate the glucose and insulin levels in individuals with stress related burnout, by assessing these metabolic markers in response to a standard oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). 38 cases with burnout (13 men and 25 women) and 35 healthy controls (13 men and 22 women) in the age 24–55 were included in the study. The burnout group overall did not differ from healthy controls in glucose or insulin levels during the OGTT. However, the burnout cases who reported more severe burnout symptoms exhibited significantly higher levels of both glucose and insulin levels during the OGTT compared to burnout cases reporting lower severity of symptoms. Furthermore, the group of burnout cases who reported symptoms of depression exhibited higher insulin levels during OGTT compared to the burnout cases without depressive symptoms. The observed higher levels in the burnout cases with most severe symptoms indicate an increased diabetic risk in these patients and it may be of importance to follow glucose and insulin levels in individuals with more severe symptoms of burnout i.e. to perform an OGTT.

Trajectory based operations will be an important concept in tomorrow’s Air Traffic Management. The concept is a complex puzzle that includes both strategical and tactical aspects to achieve increased predictability and efficiency. However, research related to trajectory based operations has been focusing on strategical or technical perspectives, thus not addressing how it effects, and is affected by, the air traffic controllers work situation. In this study, we conducted real-time simulations with air traffic controllers to explore how the introduction of a tactical trajectory management tool affects the controllers’ work strategies for conflict resolution. A tool for tactical trajectory management was developed and integrated in an Air Traffic Control simulator, and tested with realistic traffic scenarios. The results showed that by using tactical trajectory management, it was possible to reduce the need for the air traffic controllers to monitor implemented conflict solutions. The tool was incorporated by the controllers in their current work strategies for conflict resolution rather than changing their strategies. However, it also highlighted the need for more advanced support tools for trajectory management in solving vertical conflicts and using temporal constraints.

Considering that almost 20 years have passed since the last update of the traffic variation index – a measure that describes how traffic volume varies over time - and rank curves, which represent the traffic load throughout the year, an update is needed. With the changes in the vehicle fleet and traffic patterns that have occurred during this time, this study aims to update the national traffic variation templates based on empirical data from the years 2018 and 2019. The number of new measurement points during this time has also increased, making the update even more necessary. 

The update has been carried out using the same method that was used in Björketun & Carlsson (2005). The method is based on the ratio between average summer daily traffic and average annual daily traffic (AADT) to classify the traffic variation for each measurement point into three different traffic variation types, namely local traffic, through traffic, and tourist traffic. The templates include the following traffic variation indices (hourly, weekday, monthly, and holiday indices) as well as rank curves per traffic variation type (local, through, and tourist traffic).  

The results indicate that certain changes have occurred, with local traffic being the most stable traffic variation type, although it can be observed that the morning traffic peak occurs earlier nowadays. A similar trend is seen for through traffic, but with higher peak flows. For tourist traffic, a change is observed with a significantly higher proportion of annual traffic occurring during the summer months. Holiday traffic has also changed and shows a marked increase in the indices. This suggests that individuals increasingly choose to travel on holidays compared to previous years. Regarding the rank curves, local traffic is also considered stable, while through and tourist traffic shows several morehours in the highest ranks as well as higher traffic flow and proportion of vehicle-kilometers in the highest ranks.

Gärdhagen Akustik AB har fått i uppdrag att utreda mätmetoden för höga ljudnivåer vid publika arrangemang, SP-INFO 2004:45 reviderad 2007, i enlighet med projektplan Dnr 35253/2010. Projektet syftar till att samla in underlag och ta fram en rekommendation till Socialstyrelsen om eventuell fortsatt utveckling av metoden.

Sammanlagt deltog 134 personer. Enkätens inledande, mer allmänna frågor riktades till samtliga medan endast de med erfarenhet av SP-INFO 2004:45 (totalt 79 personer) slussades vidare och fick svara på de sexton specifika frågorna om mätmetoden. De med erfarenhet från SP-INFO var jämnt fördelade mellan myndighetssidan (39 personer) respektive verksamhetssidan (40 personer).

Socialstyrelsen har låtit genomföra en medicinsk utredning om huruvida det allmänna rådet för höga ljudnivåer SOSFS 2005:7 behöver revideras eller ej. Utredningens slutsats, som baseras på en kartläggning av kunskapsläget om effekter av höga ljudnivåer på människors hälsa, är att nuvarande riktvärde för ekvivalent A-vägd ljudnivå på 100 dB är så högt att det föreligger en inte oväsentlig risk för hörselskada. Utredningens förslag till revidering av det allmänna rådet innehåller i huvudsak följande tre punkter: 

• de nuvarande riktvärdena för ekvivalentnivå och maximalnivå sänks med 3 dB respektive 5 dB 
• ett riktvärde för C-vägd toppnivå införs 
• verksamhetsutövare ska vara skyldiga att informera om höga ljudnivåer 

Konsekvenserna av en sådan förändring, utöver den minskade risken för hörselskador, bedöms bli odramatiska i många sammanhang, exempelvis för biografer, teatrar, gym, pubar och motsvarande. Förändringen bedöms heller inte orsaka problem för klassiska konserter i konserthus eller utomhus, musikaler, jazz etc. 

Däremot kan följderna bli allvarliga för många av de konserter med liveband som spelar rockmusik och motsvarande, där en sänkning av riktvärdena kan medföra negativa säkerhetsmässiga, ekonomiska och kulturella konsekvenser. Representanter för såväl musikbranschen och tillsynsmyndigheter vittnar om att nuvarande riktvärden är på gränsen till vad som i många fall kan klaras vid den här typen av konserter. ”Förödande” och ”ödesdiger” är exempel på två omdömen om den föreslagna skärpningen av riktvärde för ekvivalentnivå – från tillsynssidan respektive musikbranschen. 

Förslag ges på några alternativa lösningar, vilka också utvärderas med avseende på respektive konsekvenser.

This method describes how to measure, evaluate and document the sound pressure levels that visitors of concerts, discoteques, fitness centres etc are exposed to. 

At arrangements where visitors are staying at the same position (as is the case with concerts, cinemas etc) the measurement is done where the sound pressure level is the highest. If the arrangement lasts longer than one hour, the equivalent and maximum sound pressure levels for all comprised periods of 60 minutes as well as the equivalent sound pressure level of the complete arrangement are measured (although environmental inspectors are allowed to measure only one period of 60 minutes). At arrangements that last for one hour or shorter, the equivalent and maximum sound pressure levels are measured for the duration of the arrangement. 

At arrangements where visitors are moving around (e g night clubs, pubs, gyms), the equivalent and maximum sound pressure levels are measured during 15 minutes. The equivalent sound pressure level should only be measured at places where visitors are staying a longer time while the maximum sound pressure level may be measured at all places that visitors have access to. If there is a dance floor, the equivalent sound pressure level is measured there and possibly also at one more position, depending of how the sound is distributed over the place. If there is no dance floor, the equivalent sound pressure level is measured at the position with the highest sound pressure level. The maximum sound pressure level should be measured at the spot with the highest sound pressure level.

Directions are given on how to select a sound level meter and how to calculate present measurement uncertainty. Authorities should subtract the uncertainty from the measured sound pressure level as a safety margin while the result of a self inspection should be reported as the measured sound pressure level together with the measurement uncertainty.

The necessary background information is explained and the instructions of the method are illustrated in examples and comments.

This method describes how to measure, evaluate and document the sound pressure levels that visitors of concerts, discoteques, fitness centres etc are exposed to. 

At arrangements where visitors are staying at the same position (as is the case with concerts, cinemas etc) the measurement is done where the sound pressure level is the highest. If the arrangement lasts longer than one hour, the equivalent and maximum sound pressure levels for all comprised periods of 60 minutes as well as the equivalent sound pressure level of the complete arrangement are measured (although environmental inspectors are allowed to measure only one period of 60 minutes). At arrangements that last for one hour or shorter, the equivalent and maximum sound pressure levels are measured for the duration of the arrangement. 

At arrangements where visitors are moving around (e g night clubs, pubs, gyms), the equivalent and maximum sound pressure levels are measured during 15 minutes. The equivalent sound pressure levels should only be measured at places where visitors are staying a longer time while the maximum sound pressure level may be measured at all places that visitors have access to. If there is a dance floor, the equivalent sound pressure level is measured there and possibly also at one more position, depending of how the sound is distributed over the place. If there is no dance floor, the equivalent sound pressure level is measured at the position with the highest sound pressure level. The maximum sound pressure level should be measured at the spot with the highest sound pressure level. 

Directions are given on how to select a sound level meter and how to calculate present measurement uncertainty. Authorities should subtract the uncertainty from the measured sound pressure level as a safety margin while the result of a self inspection should be reported as the measured sound pressure level together with the measurement uncertainty. 

The necessary background information is explained and the instructions of the method are illustrated in examples and comments.

Rumble strips have long been recognized as a cost-effective road safety measure to reduce the number of head-on collisions and run-off-road incidents. They were initially introduced on the shoulders of motorways in the USA in the 1950s but gained international interest and spread worldwide in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In Norway, centerline rumble strips are widely installed on roads at least 7.5 meters wide, per national regulations. This study, conducted on behalf of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, evaluates the feasibility of installing rumble strips on roads narrower than 7.5 meters. 

In the study, reviews of international practice, regulatory standards and research findings have been carried out to address three questions: where and how rumble strips are used, road width requirements for installation and potential negative effects of implementing rumble strips on narrow roads. 

The results show that studies that explicitly focus on narrow roads are few, and that recommended minimum road widths vary internationally. The study highlights the lack of detailed research on application to narrow roads and points to the importance of accurate, context-specific assessments of the local traffic situation before adjusting any installation guidelines. Such considerations should include collision type statistics, the proportion of heavy vehicles and unprotected road users, road geometry and structural integrity, as well as potential noise pollution issues. 

Young drivers are overrepresented in traffic accidents, partly due to lack of driving experience andan underdeveloped frontal lobe, which impairs risk awareness. The higher-order cognitive skills involved in driving are challenging to train and assess in a driving test. Consequently, the Swedish Transport Agency and the Swedish Transport Administration are investigating ways to improve the driving license process to enhance risk awareness among new drivers. The higher levels of driving behavior are the most difficult to assess, and it has been suggested that an on-road driving test alone is insufficient for evaluating safe driving performance. Driving simulators offer a safe, controllable environment for education and training. The questionnaire study presented here, aimed to evaluate the simulator screening test situations.

About 10–15 percent of Sweden's population has a neuropsychiatric disability (NPD), leading to various cognitive challenges. Young drivers are often involved in traffic accidents due to inexperience and an underdeveloped frontal lobe, which affects risk awareness. In driver education, individuals with ASD often struggle with practical components, while those with ADHD face challenges with theoretical aspects. Swedish authorities are examining the driver education system and are considering the use of driving simulators in training and assessment. Understanding the specific challenges individuals with NPD face in driving and training, is essential for making effective and inclusive adjustments to the education system.

Enkätundersökning om resvanor till arbetet och kännedom om kampanjer och aktiviteter för hållbart resande under det gångna året. Totalt 1 362 personer svarade på enkäterna.

Accidents involving electric scooters have increased in Sweden, from just over 700 accidents in 2019 to just over 3,400 in 2023. This year, children aged 0-17 years accounted for a quarter of injured people on electric scooters in personal injury accidents involving at least one electric scooter.

The aim of the project is to study children's accidents and injuries that occur while riding an electric scooter. To gain insight into what changes may be required to reduce the number of children injured on scooters, we have also interviewed parents and children about the use of scooters.

Based on the findings of our study, we would recommend the following:

• Better market control of what is sold.
• Sales representatives should provide correct information about, among other things, legality and insurance requirements if electric scooters that go faster than 20 km/h and have a higher motor power than 250 watts are to be sold.
• Information for parents about rules on where to ride the vehicle, helmet requirements and no passengers, and encouragement to ride themselves to realise how unstable the scooter can be.
• Information for children on rules focusing on not having passengers, wearing helmets, and how to interact with other road users.
• Investigate a minimum age limit for riding an electric scooter.
• Establish that helmets should also be used for those over 15 years of age.
• Recommend protection for other body parts.

The study investigates the resilient behaviour of a fully saturated marine clay, crucial for pavement design amidst concerns of rising groundwater levels affecting pavement structures. Traditional testing standards do not address saturated conditions, prompting a new approach. Undisturbed marine clay samples were collected in the Onsøy area, Norway and underwent Repeated Load Triaxial (RLT) tests to determine their resilient modulus (MR). The study outlines sample preparation, consolidation and finally RLT test procedures. Results revealed low MR values, indicating the soft nature of the Onsøy clay. Two distinct test procedures yielded contrasting stress dependency patterns, raising concerns regarding the accurate representation of the material’s mechanical behaviour. Factors such as overburden stress, load repetition, pore water pressure and sample quality were explored. Sustained overburden stresses led to a stiffer response and higher sensitivity to shearing. Increased load repetitions stiffened the material further. Finally, an analysis of samples’ disturbance was used to differentiate the two test procedures, showing that conducting RLT tests in a fully saturated sample without overburden stress produced poor-quality samples. The study’s significance lies in characterizing a saturated material using non-standardized testing methods, offering insights into pavement design considerations.

Hybrid supercapacitors combine batteries' energy density with capacitors' power density. They can extend the lifetime of an electrical vehicle battery by reducing the number and depth of the charge/discharge cycles and by enhancing the battery’s power capacity. Traditionally, hybrid supercapacitors contain lithium, a geochemically scarce metal. To mitigate a future lithium shortage, measures could be taken to substitute lithium with more abundant materials. One option is sodium-ion hybrid supercapacitors.

In this report, we assess the climate and mineral resource scarcity impacts of manufacturing a sodium hybrid supercapacitor by means of life cycle assessment. The goal is to identify hotspots to aid researchers, developers, and potential manufacturers in making environmentally benign design choices.

The considered sodium-ion hybrid supercapacitor is not yet produced at large scale but only in laboratories. To address this, we scale up the production process to an industrial scale using frameworks available in the literature. Results show that the activated carbon electrode is responsible for most of the environmental impact due to the use of nitric acid in processing the activated carbon. If nitric acid could be replaced, recycled, or reduced, this would lower the environmental impact considerably. Additionally, we provide guidance on how to scale up the mass of the sodium-ion hybrid supercapacitor to meet the requirement of a vehicle. This upscaling also means that the results can be used in screening assessments by vehicle developers interested in how the sodium-ion hybrid supercapacitor could influence the environmental impact of their vehicle.

The world is ramping up its production capacity for batteries due to their potential to enable a fossil-free energy and transport system. There are several types of battery technologies, both those already existing on the market, e.g., the dominant lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), and so-called next generation batteries (NGBs) that are not yet produced at large scale. For both, it is important to assess the life cycle environmental and resource impacts, as potential burden-shifting can then be identified and addressed. In addition, if battery developers and producers obtain this kind of information before design is locked and manufacturing processes established, making changes is less demanding and costly. The sodium-ion battery (SIB) is one NGB that has promising life cycle environmental and resource performance compared to LIBs, as this NGB is possible to produce with geochemically abundant materials only. While we have previously conducted a cradle-to-gate prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) of the SIB cell production, with cathode active material production based on primary manufacturer data and upscaled production, there is a clear need to extend this system boundary to encompass all phases of the SIB life cycle. 

We have now conducted a prospective LCA encompassing the whole life cycle of the SIB, i.e., from raw material extraction to end-of-life. Compared to the previous study, the SIB cell production modelling has been updated to represent large-scale production more accurately. In addition, several end-of-life options have been explored, as large uncertainty currently exists regarding this for SIBs. Lastly, decarbonized background scenarios have been considered to understand the environmental potential of SIBs in a fossil-free society. The results reveal the life cycle impacts from cradle to grave, indicating, for example, a reduced environmental burden in production compared to previously published results. Furthermore, the overall results indicate that the SIB obtains lower environmental impacts than the LIB, implying that abundant materials equal environmentally benign(er) in this case. 

The demand for renewable electricity generation is increasing worldwide as fossil energy sources are phased out due to climate change mitigation targets. Wind power plays a key role in this transition. However, wind turbines still impact the natural environment through emissions from various stages in turbine production, including extraction of metal resources from the ground. Hagnesia AB has developed a permanent magnet-based electrical generator design with high electrical and material efficiency, and potential to lower the environmental impacts compared to today’s conventional wind turbine generators, not only for the generator as such, but also for the complete turbine.

This study uses life cycle assessment to investigate how the generator design influence climate change and resource use impacts of a 15 MW wind turbine. The reference designs of IEA Wind task 37 (Gaertner et al., 2020) for a 15 MW floating wind turbine for offshore installation, and a 15 MW monopile wind turbine for shallower sea installation, are included int the study as two reference options. These are compared to two alternative turbine options, instead using the generator proposed by Hagnesia. For the floating option with the Hagnesia generator design, the model also captures the effect of lowered tower and foundation masses, which are allowed for by the load reduction that follows from the shift of generator.

Resource use is evaluated using an indicator for long-term mineral and metal scarcity. The study draws its system boundary at the point in the life cycle when the turbines are commissioned at sea and ready to generate, but it excludes the operation. In line with recommendations from previous literature, to provide transparency and replicability, all unit process-level data compiled specifically for the study is reported in Appendix A.

The influx of digital platforms into the mobility sector has created a myriad of new forms ofmobility services in urban transport. Public actors working with land use and public transportplanning are increasingly turning to experimental practices to test and implement smartmobility. Pilots and demonstration projects are being used to learn and respond tothe possibilities and challenges that platformisation poses. The ongoing developments arecollapsing previous distinctions between built and digital infrastructures, and also challengeprevious scales of governance. The proliferation of platforms raises questions regarding theagency of local and regional public actors, and the effects platforms will have on transport andmobility planning. In this article we focus on Mobility as a Service (MaaS) as an example ofplatform-based smart mobility. Based on qualitative research into a pilot project for MaaS in theStockholm region, we aim to explore how platform-based mobility services influence thecapacity of public actors to plan and govern urban mobility. We ask how different governancescales influence governance capacities, and how public actors navigate in an unfoldinggovernance landscape. The paper leads to insights regarding how the introduction of platform-based services within a pilot context may disguise the scope across which digital platformsoperate. We conclude that this case highlights an ongoing shift andreshaping of responsibilities between public actors and market actors. The public capacity tosteer urban mobility towards public sustainability goals may be undermined due to the complexand fragmented governance challenges which platform-based mobilities pose. Altogether, wesee a need for new forms of governance approaches and planning expertise in order to establishsustainable urban mobilities.

This study assesses the metal composition of two vehicle gliders, configured with different equipment levels and evaluates the risk of short and long-term metal scarcity. Entropy analysis is also used for insights on secondary metal recovery strategies. Fifty-five metals are evaluated, with gold, copper, bismuth, lead, molybdenum, and certain rare-earth metals (REMs) subject to the largest supply risks. Differences in equipment levels significantly impact the short-term supply risk for specific metals. Entertainment and communications equipment contain significant amounts of REMs, whereas mirrors and electrical infrastructure contain considerable shares of gold, silver and copper. Some metals are concentrated in a few components while some are dispersed across thousands, impacting recycling opportunities. The broad metal demand of the gliders underscores the automotive industry's role in supply risks for its own manufacturing needs and other societal domains. This emphasizes the significance of comprehensively evaluating metal requirements beyond powertrains for informed resource management.

Ongoing debates about public transport (PT) in Sweden appear to highlight a growingcontradiction. On the one hand, an increasing number of news reports depicts a continuousdeterioration of working conditions for bus drivers in PT. According to the local trade unions, PTworkers report long working days, interrupted by several hours of unpaid breaks. As a result,they suffer from extreme tiredness and experience difficulties attempting to balance work andprivate life. On the other hand, the current conditions comply with the Collective Agreement andthe employers, private companies operating PT based on a procurement agreement, argue that110 | P a g ecurrent work schedules are necessary to ensure service efficiency and provide full-timeemployment. The standards of PT services are indeed very high, and across the country PT isapproached as a central component of sustainable urban development agendas. We addressthis contradiction as a social conflict between the efficiency and sustainability of PT in Swedenand the worsening working conditions reported by trade unions. By means of a thematicanalysis of semi-structured interviews, we explore how bus drivers in procured PT—approachedas producers of PT but also actors that contest PT agendas and practices—experience the spacesand times of their work, with a focus on the different dimensions of their temporal well-being.

Batteries are enablers for reducing fossil-fuel dependency and climate-change impacts. In this study, a prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) of large-scale production of two different sodium-ion battery (SIB) cells is performed with a cradle-to-gate system boundary. The SIB cells modeled have Prussian white cathodes and hard carbon anodes based only on abundant elements and thus constitute potentially preferable options to current lithium-ion battery (LIB) cells from a mineral resource scarcity point of view. The functional unit was 1 kWh theoretical electricity storage capacity, and the specific energy density of the cells was 160 Wh/kg. Data for the cathode active material come from a large-scale facility under construction and data for the SIB cell production is based on a large-scale LIB cell gigafactory. For other SIB cell materials, prospective inventory data was obtained from a generic eight-step procedure developed, which can be used by other LCA practitioners. The results show that both SIB cells indeed have considerably lower mineral resource scarcity impacts than nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC)-type LIB cells in a cradle-to-gate perspective, while their global warming impacts are on par. Main recommendations to SIB manufacturers are to source fossil-free electricity for cell production and use hard carbon anodes based on lignin instead of phenolic resin. Additionally, since none of the assessed electrolytes had clearly lower cradle-to-gate impacts than any other, more research into SIB electrolyte materials with low environmental and resource impacts should be prioritized. An improvement of the SIB cell production model would be to obtain large-scale production data specific to SIB cells.  

Purpose

Aviation is an important contributor to climate change and other environmental problems. Electrification is one option for reducing the environmental impacts of aviation. The aim of this study is to provide the first life cycle assessment (LCA) results representing an existing commercial, two-seater, all-electric aircraft.

Methods

An attributional cradle-to-grave LCA was conducted with a functional unit of 1 h flight time. Data and records from an aircraft manufacturer informed much of the study. Detailed modelling of important aircraft components is provided, including the battery, motor, inverter, instrument panel and seats. Impact results are compared to those from a similar but fossil fuel–based two-seater aircraft. A wide range of impact categories was considered, while the focus was on global warming, resource depletion, particulate matter, acidification and ozone formation.

Results and discussion

The main contributors to almost all impact categories are the airframe, the lithium-ion battery and emissions (in the use phase). The airframe has a major impact as it contains energy-intensive, carbon fibre–reinforced composites, the impact of which can be reduced by recycling. The battery dominates mineral resource depletion categories and contributes notably to emission-based categories. Producing batteries using non-fossil energy or shifting to less resource-intensive, next-generation batteries would reduce their impact. Use-phase impacts can be reduced by sourcing non-fossil electricity. Despite the need for multiple battery pack replacements, the comparison with the fossil fuel option (based on equal lifetimes) still showed the electric aircraft contributing less to global warming, even in a high-carbon electricity scenario. By contrast, when it concerned mineral resources, the electric aircraft had greater impact than the fossil fuel based one.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are the most common choice of energy storage technology for battery electric vehicle (EV) applications today. Specifically, the nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) chemistry is favored due to its properties such as high energy density, high voltage, low self-discharge rate, long cycle life, and high charging and discharging rate capability. Several key constituents used in the NMC chemistry, such as cobalt and lithium, are already listed by the European Commission in their critical raw materials list, while nickel is listed as a strategic material with demand expected to rise for EVs in the coming years. Additionally, extraction and production of these raw materials are energy- and chemical-intensive processes that often leads to local, regional, and global pollution. Thus, to address the environmental aspects of raw material extraction and supply constraints, battery manufacturers are actively working with secondary material suppliers (battery recyclers) to address the growing demand for raw materials in their LIBs for the coming years.

This study will develop scenarios for the future hydrometallurgical recycling of LIBs to assess its potential recycling to reduce the environmental pollution impacts of LIBs. Data in terms of energy, and chemical use for recycling will be sourced from a leading large-scale battery recycler in Sweden. The recycling facility will apply hydrometallurgical processes to recover the cobalt, lithium, nickel, and other materials from NMC batteries. The study will implement a prospective life cycle assessment model to evaluate the environmental and resource implications of using recycled materials in LIBs. A sub-goal of the study will be to assess whether the supply of secondary materials in the future meet the demand of the raw materials in the batteries. The results are expected reveal the potential of large-scale hydrometallurgical recycling for reducing impacts of NMC LIBs. 

Car use and possession is an increasingly debated topic in our society, as it is one of the major contributors to carbon dioxide emissions in the European Union. This thesis aims to empirically study this question using a large registry database on the entire adult Swedish population and the car fleet from 1999 to 2020.

In the first paper, I present estimates of the income and fuel price elasticities of vehicle kilometres travelled by private cars. The empirical model allows the elasticities to vary with income and municipality type. The results show that the absolute value of the fuel price elasticity and the income elasticity is largest in the middle of the income distribution and that the absolute value of the fuel price elasticity is larger outside large cities.

In the second paper, I allow for the impact of income and fuel price on car possession by using a discrete-continuous model, the Two-Part model. The main findings are that income primarily impacts car possession and has a relatively smaller impact on vehicle kilometres travelled conditional on car ownership. In contrast, the reverse is found for the fuel price. Furthermore, the results show that the estimated elasticities are larger than a model that does not explicitly account for car possession.

In the third paper, the impact of company car taxation on the choice of new cars is studied, by comparing new company cars and new private cars. The empirical model shows that new company cars consume less fuel per kilometre than new private cars, but are also larger, more expensive, and more powerful. Evaluating the impact of company cars using a welfare model yields a negative welfare effect, where the foregone tax revenues exceed potential welfare gains from lower carbon dioxide emissions and fuel costs.

In the fourth paper, the effect of company car taxation on gross wage earnings, including the price of the company car, is studied. The results from the empirical model show that there is a substantial increase in gross wage earnings when receiving a company car, but also an increase in commuting distance. This may be explained by the fact that the decrease in taxable income from the favourable company car taxation and lower commuting costs induces the employee to increase their labour supply, take on a more demanding position or choose a workplace further away where they have a better job match.

This research investigated the metal requirements for electrifying Swedish cars and heavy-duty trucks and refueling infrastructure. We assessed vehicle and infrastructure metal use given four cornerstone scenarios: battery electric vehicles and chargers, conductive and inductive electric road systems, and fuel-cell vehicles, besides an internal combustion engine scenario. Twenty-seven metals were evaluated. To our knowledge, this study presents a first attempt to develop a detailed inventory of prevailing and prospective charging infrastructures. Our study estimated total metal requirement at 7400–9600 kt and infrastructure share at 6%–25% (200–2400 kt). Infrastructure requires about 15% of gold, 30%–40% of silver and copper, and 40%–60% of molybdenum. Results revealed that the following metal flows contribute the most to long-term resource scarcities: rhodium in fossil-fueled vehicles; gold in electric vehicles; palladium and gold in conductive and copper and palladium in inductive electric road systems; as well as platinum in fuel cells. 

Prevalent literature often excludes the infrastructure required for actualizing a transition to electric vehicles (EVs), namely electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) in transportation system assessments. This knowledge gap also extends into the domain of life cycle assessment of EVSEs. The existing body of work is limited in number and deviates notably from the charging equipment’s practicalities and representativeness. A reason is a lack of unit process inventory data that is detailed, compatible, consistent, and compliant with market trends, normative specifications and guidelines embodied in international standards and sometimes even mandated by regulations governing EVSE installation and utility interfacing. This report attempts to fill this gap and advance the body of knowledge on residential EV charging by compiling unit process data and developing a model coherent model file. 

The lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery represents a promising next-generation battery technology because it can reach high energy densities without containing any rare metals besides lithium. These aspects could give Li-S batteries a vantage point from an environmental and resource perspective as compared to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Whereas LIBs are currently produced at a large scale, Li-S batteries are not. Therefore, prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to assess the environmental and resource scarcity impacts of Li-S batteries produced at a large scale for both a cradle-to-gate and a cradle-to-grave scope. Six scenarios were constructed to account for potential developments, with the overall aim of identifying parameters that reduce (future) environmental and resource impacts. The specific energy density and the type of electrolyte salt are the two most important parameters for reducing cradle-to-gate impacts, whereas for the cradle-to-grave scope, the electricity source, the cycle life, and, again, the specific energy density, are the most important. Additionally, we find that hydrometallurgical recycling of Li-S batteries could be beneficial for lowering mineral resource impacts but not necessarily for lowering other environmental impacts. 

Rutting, a prevalent failure mode in flexible pavements, largely stems from subgrade issues. Despite this, there is a lack of standard protocols to evaluate subgrade rutting or permanent deformation (PD). This study attempted to characterise PD in subgrades, focusing on a poorly graded sand and two silty sands. Moisture contents above and below optimum levels were considered to account for seasonal variations. The research involved adapting a test to assess the PD by determining typical stresses on the subgrade. Moreover, given these soils’ unsaturated state and medium- to fine-grained nature, suction is an important factor. Suction-controlled multi-stage repeated load triaxial tests were conducted, and the results were fitted by a PD model modified to account for suction. The characterisation was compared with the subgrade strain criterion used in pavement design solutions. Results indicated discrepancies between the PD characterisation and strain criteria predictions, with the silty sands performing better than the poorly graded sand, consistent with the shakedown theory. 

The Nordic certification system NordicCert aims at testing and certifying road marking materials with respect to the durability of the products. Product certification is based on monitored and documented performance measurements of material samples applied on test fields on public roads. The materials are certified in relation to the number of wheel passages they will stand, with maintained performance. 

The certification system includes road marking materials for longitudinal and transverse road markings in categories with respect to colour (white or yellow), type (type I, type II, type II inlaid, antiskid, hand application, non-reflective with enhanced durability, and temporary) and thickness (0.4, 0.6, 1.5, 3 and 5 mm). 

The present report documents the follow-up performance measurements that were carried out at the test fields in 2024, i.e., one-year follow-up measurements for materials applied in 2023 and two-years follow-up measurements for materials applied in 2022. The report also includes results of the performance measurement of materials intended for temporary road markings that were applied in 2024. The performance parameters include the coefficient of retroreflected luminance (RL) under dry and wet conditions, the luminance coefficient under diffuse illumination (Qd), the skid resistance, the chromaticity in daylight, and the chromaticity of retroreflected light (yellow materials, only). 

Out of the 36 materials applied at the Finnish-Icelandic-Norwegian-Swedish test site in 2023, 24 fulfilled the performance requirements in at least one roll-over class P0–P4 after one year. Out of the 42 materials applied in 2022, 3 fulfilled the performance requirements in roll-over class P5 after two years. One material intended for temporary road markings was applied in 2024 and fulfilled the performance requirements in at least one roll-over class T0–T2. 

Out of the 23 materials applied at the Danish test site in 2023, 16 fulfilled the performance requirements in at least one roll-over class P0–P5 after one year. Out of the 10 materials applied in 2022, none fulfilled the performance requirements in roll-over classes P5.5–P6 after two years.

I detta PM redovisas ett antal retardationsmätningar på olika tågtyper under olika förutsättningar i Sverige under perioden 2018–2024. I första hand på ETCS-utrustade banor, men också jämförande mätningar på ATC-banor. Syftet är att nationellt öka precisionen i kapacitetberäkningar och tidtabellkonstruktion. Mätningarna är baserade på verkligt utfall av trafiken och gångdynamik för ett omfattande antal tåg. Inom Trafikverket tillämpas idag konstanta retardationsnivåer inom både tidtabellsläggning och kapacitetsplanering. Idag är dessa nivåer uppdelade i två kategorier, persontrafik (-0,6 m/s2) och godstrafik (-0,3 m/s2). Sammanfattningsvis är rekommendationen utifrån detta PM att justera ner Trafikverkets retardationsnivåer för persontrafik för både ATC och ETCS till -0,5 m/s2. Detta gäller dock inte pendeltågstrafik där förarbeteendet skiljer sig mot övrig trafik och där dagens nivå anses vara rimlig. För godstrafiken finns heller inga indikationer på att dagens nivå skulle vara orimlig. Slutligen visar också resultaten på att ETCS Indication-kurvan är ett rimligt antagande för prediktion av förarnas bromsbeteende i kapacitetssammanhang.