The Adoption of Green Vehicles in Last Mile Logistics: A Systematic Review

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 publi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2021-01, Vol.13 (1), p.6
Main Authors: Patella, Sergio Maria, Grazieschi, Gianluca, Gatta, Valerio, Marcucci, Edoardo, Carrese, Stefano
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air pollution
Autonomous vehicles
Cities
Climate change
COVID-19
Efficiency
Electric vehicles
Electronic commerce
Emissions
Freight transportation
Global warming
Innovations
Literature reviews
Logistics
Oil pollution
Optimization
Optimization techniques
Sustainability
Systematic review
Technological change
Urban areas
Vehicles
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Summary: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.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su13010006