Glossary - Definition of terms and technologies

Electro-mobility (e-mobility) – a general term for the development of electric-powered vehicles designed to shift transport systems away from the use of fossil fuels and pollutions emissions. The term is mostly focused on road transport systems.

EV considered in EUFAL are battery electric vehicle (BEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and range-extender electric vehicles (REEV).

HEV (hybrid electric vehicle) – a car equipped with 2 types of engine: internal combustion (IC) and electric. On-board battery is charged by the internal combustion engine or by recuperation and cannot be charged externally from the charging station. Very small battery capacity allows for range up to several km on electric propulsion. The electric motor is used mostly to assist the drive during moving off, providing less exhaust gasses emission. Driving (power transmission) available in hybrid, electric or internal combustion mode.

PHEV (plug in hybrid electric vehicle) – a car equipped with 2 types of engine: internal combustion (IC) and electric. On-board battery is charged from external charging station or by the internal combustion engine and by recuperation. Small battery capacity allows for range up to several dozens km on electric propulsion. The electric motor allows independent ride in full speed range. Driving (power transmission) available in hybrid, electric or internal combustion mode.

EREV (extended range electric vehicle) – a car equipped with 2 types of engine: main electric and small internal combustion (IC). On-board battery is charged from external charging station or by recuperation and alternativelly by the IC engine. Large battery capacity allows for range up to few hundreds km on electric propulsion. The electric motor allows independent ride in full speed range. Driving (power transmission) available only in electric mode.

EV or BEV (electric vehicle, battery electric vehicle) – a car equipped only with electric engine. On-board battery is charged from external charging station or by recuperation. Large battery capacity allows for range up to few hundreds km on electric propulsion. The electric motor allows independent ride in full speed range. Zero exhaust gasses emission.

CEB (Cargo electric bikes) – is a bicycle structurally designed for carrying cargo with an integrated electric motor which assists propulsion while pedaling. Depending on local laws power of electric motor is limited. Battery capacity allows to assist rider pedaling up to 100km, it’s removable for charging.

City logistics – the process for totally optimising the logistics and transport activities by private companies with support of advanced information systems in urban areas considering the traffic environment, the traffic congestion, the traffic safety and the energy savings within the framework of a market economy. (Taniguchi, E., R. G. Thompson, T. Yamada, and R. Van Duin (2001). City logistics: network modelling and intelligent transport systems. Pergamon, Oxford.)

Urban logistics – the movement of goods, equipment and waste into, out, from, within or through an urban area. (European Commission (2013) “A call to action on urban logistics”, SWD(2013) 524 final, available at: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/themes/urban/doc/ump/swd%282013%29524-communication.pdf)

• the movement of freight vehicles whose primary purpose is to carry goods into, out of and within urban areas. (1)
• the delivery of consumer goods (not only by retail, but also by other sectors such as manufacturing) in city and suburban areas, including the reverse flow of used goods in terms of clean waste. (2)

(1) MDS Transmodal Limited (2012) Study on Urban Freight Transport FINAL REPORT for European Commission (DG MOVE), available at: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/urban/studies/doc/2012-04-urban-freight-transport.pdf

(2) OECD (2003):Delivering the goods - 21st century challenges to urban goods transport. OECD working group on urban freight logistics, Paris.

Type of vehicle: UFT can be considered to be a freight trip, not on the basis of its actual purpose, but on the basis of the type of vehicle. As an example, the Italian Codice della Strada (Highway Code) classifies four-wheeled (or more than four-wheeled) motor vehicles into freight vehicles (category N) and passenger vehicles (category M).

Purpose of trip: It is also possible to use a criterion that classifies freight trips as those whose main purpose is to move goods. According to this criterion, on the one hand, shopping trips made by individuals in passenger vehicles in urban areas would have to be considered to be freight trips; on the other hand, trips whose main purpose is to provide services other than transport (e.g. rescue vehicles, breakdown vehicles, etc.) would not be considered as freight trips, even though they are made using freight vehicles.

Soft measures – aimed mainly at organizational and promotional activities and those related to the collection of information.

Hard measures – usually include activities of infrastructural nature, based primarily on the implementation of new technologies, technical systems and projects of high implementation complexity (such as urban consolidation centres, transhipment hubs, etc.).

Push measure – one that is imposed on operators with a view to influencing delivery or operational practices. These can be divided into financial instruments (e.g. higher parking charges and road tolls) and technical and regulatory constraints (e.g. access restrictions). “Push” measures are closely related to more efficient and equitable transport pricing which seeks to require transport users (including freight operators) to bear a greater proportion of the real costs of their journeys, including costs of pollution, accidents and infrastructure.

Pull measure – designed to encourage more sustainable and energy-efficient freight traffic by offering various additional services (e.g., improved mapping), facilities (e.g., preferential access to loading bays for “clean” vehicles) or incentives (e.g., access to priority lanes) to operators or shippers. In many cases, the measures are combined with information and publicity campaigns designed to further reinforce the good practice measures.

Push-and-Pull measures – involve a combination of the two, aimed at providing incentives for good practice whilst simultaneously using fiscal or technical tools to deter practices we wish to discourage

• linear, if they refer to links of the urban/metropolitan transport network (e.g. use of an urban transportation sub-network only for freight vehicles);
• surface (and/or nodal), if they refer to areas that can be reserved for freight operations (e.g. areas for loading and unloading operations, logistic nodes to optimise freight distribution in metropolitan/urban areas like Urban Distribution Centres).

• on loading units, if they refer to the introduction of new standards for loading units to optimize handling and transport by new low-emission vehicles;
• on transport units, if they refer to characteristics of transport units (e.g. reduction in truck emissions and use of electric vehicles, methane vehicles, metropolitan railways and trams).

Measures related to governance of the traffic network; in this class we can find traffic regulations (e.g. access times, heavy vehicle networks, road-pricing, maximum parking times, maximum occupied surface and specific permission).

Shippers – this is a group that includes both senders and recipients of goods, usually retailers (small shops independent of large chains), wholesalers and manufacturers; these are customers, who use the services of carriers, who both send goods to other companies or private customers as well as receive from these items and are interested in maximizing the level of services offered to them, including cost, time of loading and transportation, reliable of transportation, as well as receiving information.

Freight carriers – this group includes external professional transport operators, logistics service providers, courier services, private providers (e.g. retailers who independently organize deliveries to their stores using their own transport), urban managers of supply centres and dispatchers; usually representatives of this group are interested in minimizing costs associated with the collection and delivery of goods to customers, which allows them to maximize their profits; it is expected that their services will be of high quality and at a relatively low total cost, which is particularly important in cases where the expected delivery is dependent on the specific time windows.

Residents – this group should include both city residents as well as its other users (for example, commuters and visitors to the city, but not living in it), people who come to the city to do shopping, and any other road traffic participants such as store owners, developers, associations and organizations of citizens and consumers; this group is not favourable to big commercial vehicles entering the city, even when these vehicles provide them with necessary products, due to the fact that it prefers the minimum level of congestion, low noise and pollution, and it expects the reduction in the number of accidents.

City administrators – this group can be divided into administrators of urban system for goods distribution (regional authorities, municipalities, municipal managers of supply centres), other administrators, providing inputs to the system (planners, policy makers, infrastructure managers) and supporting institutions (such as chambers of commerce, associations of cities, etc.); this group of stakeholders is focused primarily on the development of the city and increase of employment opportunities, and is also interested in limiting congestion, the impact of transport on the environment and increase of road safety in the city; its members should be neutral and play a key role in resolving conflicts between other interest groups involved in the execution of supply in urban areas.

Manufacturers of commercial vehicles – it is an important element, because it includes mainly companies that provide transport system with components necessary for its operation: commercial vehicles (hardware) and software that supports or even determines their use. In light of the emerging new concepts and technologies for distribution of goods in the cities (packstations, freight trams, and in the future underground freight transport, etc.) it is worth to expand this group with manufacturers of non-conventional technologies.

Descriptions of the implementation actions (good practice) – the measures which are the way of running a business or providing a service that is recognized as correct or most effective. They are not only a practices that are good, but also that have been proven to work well and produce good results, and are therefore recommended as models. Successful experience, which has been tested and validated, in the broad sense, which has been repeated and deserves to be shared so that a greater number of people can adopt it.

Result of the other projects focused on electro-mobility – it includes the reports, deliverables, analysis of the projects on national and international level (mostly ERA-NET Electromobility+, Horizon2020 projects).

External and independent reports and analysis – the achievements and deliverables of external entities, like associations, research institutes, agencies etc., which are focused on analysis of the EV as well as infrastructure for EV. It will includes also the analysis (including comparative analysis) of the technical parameters of EV (especially vans).

Software (including on-line applications) – the software tools, which could support the EV development in city logistics.