What is RFEG?
The electrification of the road freight sector is challenging and requires a socio-technical revolution led by shippers, logistics service providers and carriers to truly succeed. Electric freight vehicles, from an operational and business perspective, make sense for most applications – provided that a comprehensive planning approach is used.
The Road Freight Electrification Guidance works towards this goal by helping fleet owners and freight buyers to better understand where and when electrification should be applied, based on solid research, a tested decision-making approach, and through real-life examples from around the world.
What will this project deliver?
The Guidance will provide recommendations to logistics actors on five priority actions considering the current and short-term state of the EV market. Learn how to:
- Incorporate electric vehicles in sustainable logistics roadmaps considering the availability of suitable vehicles and third-party service providers.
- Plan and provide charging infrastructure for own or third-party fleets.
- Calculate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of freight activity based on data availability.
- Clarify lifecycle (cradle-to-grave) impacts of electric freight vehicles and operations, both climate change and wider sustainability issues.
- Incentivize third-party freight service providers to transition to electric vehicles.
Why join this project?
Active participation in the project will support your electrification journey:
- Gain clarity on the challenges you and your organization will face as well as best practices to overcome them.
- Increase vertical (i.e., value chain partners) and horizontal (i.e., sector-wide) purpose alignment to stimulate road freight electrification.
- Showcase leadership and inspire the industry with your electrification experience.
Cross-Collaboration Activities
The work program builds upon several SFC projects to present an integrated guidance for electrification. These include:
- SFBA Fleet Electrification Coalition, which empowers businesses to make the switch to e-trucks through strategic partnerships, innovative solutions, and targeted advocacy.
- SFBA Procurement Workstream, which will develop a Procurement Playbook for Green Logistics, comprehensive guidance on how to apply procurement as a lever for transport decarbonization effectively.
- Zero Emission Freight Initiative (ZEFI), which will demonstrate electric trucks in China, supported by a coalition of shippers, carriers, automotive industry and government.
In addition, several external-led initiatives will supplement the work to be done in this project:
- Denmark Technical University, Smart Freight Centre, and the European Copper Institute developed design guidelines for truck depot charging infrastructure. Download the guidelines here.
- Project Compose 3.0 (website in Dutch), which will investigate how human behavior, habits, preferences and motives affect the transition to sustainable logistics.
- TranSensus LCA project, a Horizon Europe project on alignment of life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology for alternative fuel vehicles, including electric trucks.
Road Freight Electrification Guidance Publications
Unlocking Your Carrier's Electrification Buy-in: A Guide with the 3rd Party Electrification Framework
Road freight is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Electrification offers a powerful solution, but carrier hesitancy due to market uncertainty, knowledge gaps, and resource constraints can stall progress. This guide equips freight buyers with the 3rd Party Electrification Framework (3PEF) – a roadmap to: align with carriers on the vision for electrification, build strong collaborative partnerships, and to offer operational support to ease the transition.
Measuring and Reporting the Carbon Footprint of Electric Freight Vehicle Operations: Whitepaper
This Whitepaper provides essential guidance for logistics professionals, offering nuanced insights into lifecycle emissions calculation, specifically tailored to electric vehicles and electricity usage. This resource acts as a valuable supplement to the ISO 14083 and the GLEC Framework.
Exploring Sustainability in Road Freight Electrification: A Comprehensive FAQ
The publication addresses the sustainability challenges inherent in the electric truck’s lifecycle, offering comparisons with traditional diesel trucks where relevant. It provides clear insights into how both the vehicle and battery industries are addressing these challenges, subsequently empowering logistics actors with actionable steps to ensure sustainability amidst the transition.
Cloud Report VII: Monitoring and Implementing Efficient and Zero-Emission Freight Transport
This report identified the research and innovation gaps and priorities to further nurture the decarbonization of the road freight sector, particularly towards zero-tailpipe-emission vehicles. The research was carried out under the Horizon 2020 BOOSTLOG project, in order to direct European research funding and investments in the transport and logistics sector.
Guidelines - Charging Infrastructure for Truck Depots
Depot charging infrastructure is expected to be the cornerstone of any charging infrastructure strategy, at both the company-level and nationally. This guide helps fleet operators design and develop optimal depot charging infrastructure by considering fleet size and operations, as well as constraints in grid infrastructure and space.
More on SFC Electrification Projects
Interested in committing to the electrification of road freight for the industry? Smart Freight Centre (SFC) offers an additional electrification project that your organization might benefit from: the Fleet Electrification Coalition, which will leverage demand aggregation to increase the supply and reduce the cost of e-trucks, speeding up large-scale e-truck deployment. The Guidance and the Coalition will seek for synergy where possible, and are accessible for SFC members.
Please note that the Fleet Electrification Coalition is part of the Sustainable Freight Buyers Alliance, which requires Premium SFC Membership. To find out more about our membership plans, click here.
Get involved!
For further information about this project, contact Tharsis Teoh at tharsis.teoh@smartfreightcentre.org
