• Energy Research

Widespread adoption of green vehicles in urban logistics may contribute to the alleviation of problems such as environmental pollution, global warming, and oil dependency. However, the current adoption of green vehicles in the last mile logistics is relatively low despite many actions taken by public authorities to overcome the negative externalities of distributing goods in cities. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review on studies investigating the adoption of green vehicles in urban freight transportation, paying specific attention to e-commerce. To shed light on the adoption of green vehicles in city logistics, the paper conducts a systematic review of the empirical literature on the topic. The 159 articles reviewed were classified into the following: (a) Optimization and scheduling (67 papers); (b) policy (55 papers); (c) sustainability (37 papers). Among the 159 articles, a further selection of 17 papers dealing with e-commerce, i.e., studies that highlight the most relevant aspects related to the integration of green vehicles in e-commerce urban logistics, was performed. Our findings indicate that green vehicles are competitive in urban deliveries characterized by frequent stop-and-go movements and low consolidation levels while incentives are still necessary for their adoption. The use of autonomous vehicles results the most promising and challenging solution for last-mile logistics.

Widespread adoption of green vehicles in urban logistics may contribute to the alleviation of problems such as environmental pollution, global warming, and oil dependency. However, the current adoption of green vehicles in the last mile logistics is relatively low despite many actions taken by public authorities to overcome the negative externalities of distributing goods in cities. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review on studies investigating the adoption of green vehicles in urban freight transportation, paying specific attention to e-commerce. To shed light on the adoption of green vehicles in city logistics, the paper conducts a systematic review of the empirical literature on the topic. The 159 articles reviewed were classified into the following: (a) Optimization and scheduling (67 papers); (b) policy (55 papers); (c) sustainability (37 papers). Among the 159 articles, a further selection of 17 papers dealing with e-commerce, i.e., studies that highlight the most relevant aspects related to the integration of green vehicles in e-commerce urban logistics, was performed. Our findings indicate that green vehicles are competitive in urban deliveries characterized by frequent stop-and-go movements and low consolidation levels while incentives are still necessary for their adoption. The use of autonomous vehicles results the most promising and challenging solution for last-mile logistics.

Event business is constantly growing in frequency and size, attracting people from nearby areas and different countries as well. Transportation plays a key role in a successful event, especially for major ones, where the large number of participants requires ad hoc designing of event mobility and might include implementation of new infrastructures. In recent decades, environmental issues have emphasized event negative externalities, leading to the design of green events. This paper presents a comprehensive systematic literature review on studies investigating the sustainable practices related to event mobility. The methodology showcases a selection of 32 articles, which were classified according to their main contributions into five categories, for which gaps and trends were shown. Our findings indicate that there are not enough studies to draw conclusions about good practices that can be generalized to each kind of event. Additionally, strong limitations in the reviewed papers are the different contexts of the analysis and the lack of a validation through empirical data. The research presented in this paper adds a contribution to the sustainable event transportation literature reporting the most established models, methods, and interventions. In detail, the most promising interventions involve mass transit and demand-oriented services that rely on intelligent transportation systems and user information.

Event business is constantly growing in frequency and size, attracting people from nearby areas and different countries as well. Transportation plays a key role in a successful event, especially for major ones, where the large number of participants requires ad hoc designing of event mobility and might include implementation of new infrastructures. In recent decades, environmental issues have emphasized event negative externalities, leading to the design of green events. This paper presents a comprehensive systematic literature review on studies investigating the sustainable practices related to event mobility. The methodology showcases a selection of 32 articles, which were classified according to their main contributions into five categories, for which gaps and trends were shown. Our findings indicate that there are not enough studies to draw conclusions about good practices that can be generalized to each kind of event. Additionally, strong limitations in the reviewed papers are the different contexts of the analysis and the lack of a validation through empirical data. The research presented in this paper adds a contribution to the sustainable event transportation literature reporting the most established models, methods, and interventions. In detail, the most promising interventions involve mass transit and demand-oriented services that rely on intelligent transportation systems and user information.

This paper presents a model to evaluate the life cycle greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, expressed in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq), of a generic fleet composition as a function of the traffic simulation results. First we evaluated the complete life cycle of each category of the vehicles currently circulating; next, by defining a general linear equation, the traffic environmental performances of a real road network (city of Rome) were evaluated using a traffic simulation approach. Finally, the proposed methodology was applied to evaluate the GHG emission of a 100% penetration of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and various electric and conventional vehicles composition scenarios. In terms of life cycle impacts, BEVs are the vehicles with the highest GHG emissions at the vehicle level (construction + maintenance + end-of-life processes) that are, on average, 20% higher than internal combustion engine vehicles, and 6.5% higher than hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Nevertheless, a 100% BEVs penetration scenario generates a reduction of the environmental impact at the mobility system level of about 65%.

This paper presents a model to evaluate the life cycle greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, expressed in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq), of a generic fleet composition as a function of the traffic simulation results. First we evaluated the complete life cycle of each category of the vehicles currently circulating; next, by defining a general linear equation, the traffic environmental performances of a real road network (city of Rome) were evaluated using a traffic simulation approach. Finally, the proposed methodology was applied to evaluate the GHG emission of a 100% penetration of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and various electric and conventional vehicles composition scenarios. In terms of life cycle impacts, BEVs are the vehicles with the highest GHG emissions at the vehicle level (construction + maintenance + end-of-life processes) that are, on average, 20% higher than internal combustion engine vehicles, and 6.5% higher than hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Nevertheless, a 100% BEVs penetration scenario generates a reduction of the environmental impact at the mobility system level of about 65%.

Autonomous vehicles and shared mobility represent two fields of strong innovation in transportation research, and Shared Autonomous Vehicle (SAV) services have been studied as a new promising mobility system. Such services offer a strong potential especially when integrated with the Public Transport (PT) system, increasing its attractiveness by providing first- and last-mile connections to low-demand areas. This paper performs a systematic review on a niche of SAV-related literature, selecting articles that address PT-SAV integrations, the issue of how SAVs should be implemented together with already existing transit systems to enhance collective mobility. Papers have been classified firstly according to the methodological and modelling approaches used by researchers, and then according to the different operational schemes with which SAV systems can be deployed. Common findings have been reported and commented on, identifying the lack of articles aimed at determining the most suitable SAV service typology for specific contexts and network configuration. Many authors indicate that if SAVs are operated as feeder modes to mass transit, they might improve public transport connectivity. However, further research is needed to explore the efficacy of SAV systems as an opportunity to address first/last-mile PT planning issues.