Transport buyers’ perspective on electric road freight : Barriers and benefits with battery electric trucks, and actions that can be performed by the transport buyers to contribute to the transition

Abstract: Today the diesel-driven truck is the most used type of transportation of freight. Diesel-driven trucks emit carbon dioxide and other particles, leading to environmen- tal problems and people inhaling the emissions. To decrease the carbon footprint of road freight, one solution is to transition to trucks powered by electric engines. For the transition to happen, the transport buyers must be on board since they often set the level of importance for environmental aspects. To get the transport buyers to support the transition towards electric road freight, knowing what they find important when selecting suppliers and what they could do to contribute to the change is essential. This is why the purpose of the thesis is as follows. This thesis aims to identify what factors transport buyers prioritise when selecting a transport supplier and what actions transport buyers can take to contribute to the transition towards battery electric road freight. Ten large Swedish companies that procure road freight transport were interviewed in a case study to answer the purpose. The purpose was broken down into three research questions. The first targeted what factors transport buyers find important when procuring transportation. The second question focused on the transport buy- ers’ views regarding what barriers and benefits they see with transitioning to electric road freight. The last research question aimed to answer what actions transport buyers could take to contribute to the transition toward using battery electric road freight as a means of transportation. The study showed that the three most important factors when selecting a supplier were factors related to price, quality and environment. The environment has gained a lot of importance during the last couple of years and has changed the most for the transport buyers’ procurement of transportation. The most significant barri- ers for transport buyers to transition towards electric road freight was the lack of charging infrastructure and the uncertainty of who will take responsibility for the infrastructure development. The most significant benefit of transitioning was the reduced environmental footprint, which allowed for an improved brand value and allowed the companies to market themselves as sustainable. The study also showed that the actions that the transport buyers are most likely to perform, as well as most likely to have a positive impact on the transition towards electric freight vehicles, are collaborating with others and using longer contracts with the LSPs. More extended contracts would be something that could make the LSPs feel secure enough to commit to more significant investments such as BETs. Still, if a relationship between the LSP and the transport buyer reaches far back, the transport buyers think the connection would be more secure for the LSP than a more extended contract. Collaboration is the action with the most potential to make the transition towards battery-electric road freight happen. It has the most potential to overcome the most significant barrier for electric freight vehicles, the lack of infrastructure to charge them.