The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) has been commissioned by the Swedish Government to “contribute to the creation of knowledge regarding a rapid, smart and socioeconomically efficient electrification of the transport sector”. This report presents the part of the commission that describes a general analysis of the interaction between the energy system and the transport system, what obstacles there are and what solutions can contribute to increased electrification of transport. This part of the assignment includes good examples from other countries. 

Transport and energy have always been closely linked sectors. What is changing now, is not only the connection between the sectors, but also their nature; while the transport sector has historically mainly consumed oil products, global climate measures will drive the transport sector towards a stronger link to electricity. Therefore, the transition from oil-based transport to electricity-based transport is as much about sector changing within the energy sector as between energy and transport sectors. To handle this transition requires a conversion of both systems. The report describes the implications of the transport sector’s change on the energy system and the roles of various actors in the change. In addition, good examples from four other countries – China, the USA, Norway and the Netherlands – are highlighted. When transitioning, there are some policy aspects that are important to take into account, such as technology and behavior change, changes in the sectors and overlapping political goals.

There are reasons to question previous research literature regarding estimates of how much port call optimization can contribute to energy efficiency. Specifically, the potential of Virtual Arrival (VA), i.e., a system where ships would be able to reduce their speed in advance of a port call, in response to a known delay, in order to reduce or completely eliminate waiting time at anchor. In this study, we seek to estimate the maximum technically feasible energy efficiency potential of VA for Swedish tramp shipping. Operational, business, contractual or other circumstances may lead to portions of the technical potential not being considered realizable. We also seek to estimate the realizable energy efficiency potential of VA. 

The estimate of the technical potential is based on empirical data from 2019. Traffic data from the AIS, ship data from IHS Markit, port call data from the Swedish Maritime Administration and Eurostat’s distance matrix for ports have been used for the estimate of the maximum technically feasible energy efficiency potential. The calculation models that underpin the estimates are based on accepted models and are calibrated with better substantiated assumptions than in previous studies. The estimate of the realizable potential is based on a Delphi study in which experts from the stakeholder categories shipowners, ports and shipbrokers have been included. 

The results show that previous estimates overestimate the potential of VA for energy efficiency in the Swedish tramp shipping. The maximum technically feasible energy efficiency potential is significantly lower than previously believed. This is due to several factors such as the fact that a relatively small percentage of the port calls (approx. 15%) have any waiting time at anchor at all and of these a large percentage (approx. 40%) are already sailing so slowly that reduced sailing speed would not lead to a reduction in fuel consumption. Also, model assumptions in previous studies have tended to mechanically overestimate the technical potential. The Delphi study shows that approx. one fifth of the maximum technically feasible energy efficiency potential can be considered realizable in a Swedish context.

E-commerce of groceries brings increased service and availability for consumers, but also challenges for companies that need to adapt their logistics systems to new market needs. Above all, it is the last mile, i.e., the distance from the time orders are picked until they are delivered to the consumer or delivery point, that is affected by increasing e-commerce. Today, these transports are not efficient, neither from a cost perspective nor from an energy-efficiency perspective. 

The purpose of the feasibility study “Energy-efficient last-mile distribution of groceries through new collaboration models” (ELLA) is to generate new knowledge for the development of logistics solutions that enable energy-efficient last-mile transports in different contexts. Methods used are literature studies, interview studies with nineteen organizations and companies in the grocery sector as well as a workshop with grocery retailers, box suppliers, transporters and researchers. 

The report identifies nine logistics solutions with great energy-efficiency potential that were categorized into three main groups; 1) transport (i.e. how the transport is organized), 2) delivery (i.e. how the delivery takes place), and 3) vehicle (i.e. which vehicle is used in the delivery). 

The logistics solutions that are viewed in more detail are: Groupage, micro-terminals, service level adjustments, standardized packaging, delivery point at high-traffic locations, cargo bike, electric truck and “ice cream” truck. The nine logistics solutions have been evaluated using various measures of energy efficiency such as load capacity, degree of filling, km/stop, stop/route and CO2 emissions. The logistics solutions have also been analyzed based on which contexts they are suitable to use in and which actors are needed to implement the solution. 

In 2020, the Swedish Transport Administration received a governmental assignment to analyze the conditions and plan for the expansion of electric roads. In the assignment, an analysis was made regarding a potential degree of utilization of electric roads in Sweden, based, among other things, on the development of heavy electrified road transport. 

The degree of utilization is a central factor in being able to understand the consequences, for example in terms of environmental benefits and socio-economic profitability, that the establishment of electric roads can entail. The utilization rate in the Swedish Transport Administration’s report was estimated at 25% in the event of a full expansion of the electric road network by the year 2040. Due to external developments and the rapid technological development in the electric road market, other European countries have made similar investigations which resulted in other utilization rates. Therefore, there was reason to renew the analysis of the potential degree of utilization of electric road system in Sweden. 

To be able to determine whether the utilization rates produced in the Swedish investigation still stood, a comparison was made between these calculations and the reports of four other European countries, Germany, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands. The aim was to analyze the importance and influence of various factors on the degree of utilization of electric roads. The goal was to present a method to be able to make comparisons regarding included factors as well as calculations of the degree of utilization based on selected factors. 

This report proposes different approaches for estimating utilization rate, by exemplifying different estimates based on different input factors and calculation basis. The report also includes a sensitivity analysis to demonstrate how different assumptions can produce different utilization rate results. 

The investigation shows that detailed information from several sources is required to be able to make reliable estimates about the utilization rate of electric roads. Based on the sensitivity analysis carried out, it becomes clear that Swedish long-distance transport accounts for the single greatest use of the electric road. It will therefore be important to examine which behaviors in the vehicle fleet that are required to switch to electric road operation, as these factors are decisive for the utilization rate.

The government has commissioned the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) to “contribute to the building of knowledge around a fast, smart and economically efficient electrification of the transport sector”. This report focusses on the part of the mission that deals with conducting pilot projects and developing models for how data, in practice, can be made available, shared and utilized in the best way to optimize planning, development, operation for charging infrastructure and business models. 

The report provides a description of existing technologies for charging electric vehicles, important user perspectives, and how business models and systems for charging infrastructure can be modelled. 

The report focuses on data sharing and describes how actors today share data and what difficulties they see with data sharing. This includes, among other things, data availability, sharing and utilization, as well as how the actors want it to work going forward. A major challenge concerns data availability, where actors partly see problems with getting access to data and partly are hesitant to want to share their own data. Often, it is about privacy issues and regulation according to the GDPR. 

The importance of a well-functioning collaboration between the energy and transport sectors has been highlighted in previous reports from this assignment. 

The importance of digitalization and digital infrastructure that connects these sectors is particularly emphasized in this work. Digitalization is needed to streamline planning, development and operation of the infrastructure that an electrified transport system requires. The modeling done in this part of the assignment deals with transport modeling and energy modeling as well as development to make the models interact.

This report of stage 1 of the project “Transport efficiency and occupancy rate: Analysis and action proposals for increased resource utilization” (Tryffel) summarizes results from the completed stage and presents the first plan of stage 2. The goal of the first stage is to set-up sub-studies for the work that is motivated by the main purpose of the project. The report problematizes the need to study transport efficiency and highlights why the fill rate does not hold as a measure of transport efficiency at the societal level. Four sub-studies for stage 2 are presented that take their point of departure in the gap of current knowledge regarding transport efficiency.

The corona pandemic that took off in Sweden in March 2020 had a profound impact on Swedish society. Restrictions and closures, in Sweden and abroad, changed consumers' purchasing and travel patterns and thus also the actions of companies. The question that the report focuses on is how the Swedish freight transport system was affected by the pandemic in the years 2020 and 2021. More specifically, it is analysed how vehicle movements and freight flows changed during the pandemic, investigated which effects of the corona pandemic had the greatest impact on the Swedish freight transport system and how they affected the system, and studied what significance the pandemic has had for the freight transport system in comparison with previous crises. 

The study was conducted with both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The quantitative data analysis is based on five different data sources, two of which are based on GPS data from individual vehicles and ships, respectively, and which only capture their positions and movements. Two sources consist of micro data from Trafikanalys surveys on sea traffic and truck transport, which also contain data on the goods being transported, and one source is annual average daily traffic from the Swedish Transport Administration. The qualitative data analysis includes an interview study with ten actors from the transport industry as well as a literature study. 

The results of aggregated data show that the differences between 2020 and 2021 and the three previous years are generally comparatively small. In this sense, it can be said that the Swedish freight transport system on a macro level has proven to be robust for the type of disruptions that the corona pandemic entailed. High-resolution data of individual vehicles has made it possible to study rapid or short-term responses for truck transport during the pandemic. For example, in many cases, a rapid initial reduction in trucking has occurred during the initial stage of the pandemic (late March and early April 2020). The interviews indicate that on a micro level, the Swedish freight transport system has proven to be resilient and to have a good ability to adapt to changes, including through automation of processes, digitization, and smart delivery methods. However, drawing lessons for future crises is more difficult because each external, disruptive event is unique, but the freight transport system seems to be well positioned to handle such events.