Abstract
The electric vehicle segment is gaining momentum around the globe, and Morocco will not be the exception in this regard. The present study serves to look into the question of the current and future electricity needs of this segment of the means of transport. The main contribution is preparing the necessary adaptations in the frame of electricity production capacity at the national level. This chapter aims to highlight the enablers to be seized and the main barriers to be overcome by the use of an integrated SWOT-PESTEL analysis in combination with the analytical hierarchy process. First, the SWOT-PESTEL framework is dedicated to identifying the main criteria that enable and hinder the viability of implementing electric freight vehicles (EFV) in Morocco from a sustainability perspective. Afterwards, the quantification process of the output is realized through the application of the AHP method.
TopIntroduction
The increase of the size of cities to being denser in terms of population, the vast number of companies or projects appearing over last decades only poses the question about the number of resources consumed for this population’s blast and the increase of the traffic congestion which could lead to multiple social and environmental problems. Urban logistics has become essential in the last few decades (İmre et al., 2021). It inhabits a gradually significant position across the sustainable development theme, and it is inevitable to say that urban logistics presents the pillar of sustainable development. Yet, the continuous progress of the problems would threaten the advancement of the communities, especially in terms of regional scale (İmre et al., 2021). It is commonly acknowledged that researchers have been studying sustainability in transportation for a considerable amount of time. More precisely, the research on one of the ways to achieve sustainability in transportation, which is the use of electric vehicles in urban freight transportation, has been growing in popularity in the last decade (Wang et al., 2018). By definition, Urban Freight Transport (UFT) is a part of freight transport that concerns the movement of goods using commercial vehicles in urban areas (Dablanc, 2009). This emanates from the fact that sustainability in UFT is related to three major performance categories. The first category is economic performance, which includes economic indicators such as transport cost, punctuality and inventory levels. The second category is environmental performance, in which we find pollution, energy consumption and noise indicators. The third pillar of this sustainability is a social performance, which includes other indicators of job creation as an example (Moufad & Jawab, 2018). However, to achieve this sustainability in UFT, experts suggest that one of the factors of this objective is the exploitation of electricity instead of fossil fuels as an energy source. Electric vehicles for passenger transport have gained much traction in the last ten to twenty years, the technology in battery development has been increasing every year, and the popularity among the usual consumers has reached record numbers (İmre et al., 2021). Electric Commercial Vehicles (ECVs) are battery-powered vehicles used to transport goods, haven't gotten the same amount of attention as electric vehicles for passengers (Schulte & Ny, 2018). In this sense, ECVs can be powered partially or fully by electricity and are expected to influence the sustainability in UFT by their limited greenhouse gases emissions, decreasing noises, and their low-level energy consumption (Wang et al., 2018). Thus, ECVs have made their entrance to the public market in the shape of battery-powered trucks that can reach 800 km range on one charge; some examples are the Tesla Semi and the Nikola One (Schulte & Ny, 2018). In Morocco, urban logistics are still characterized by a traditional network of points of sale, with nearly 200,000 points of sale, 40% of them are small grocery stores, according to a report by the Ministry of Transportation and Equipment and Logistics. The majority of distribution in Morocco is carried out through traditional trade involving a multiplicity of uncoordinated actors. Transport is mainly organized by the shipper (production units, assembly plants, packaging or consolidation / unbundling warehouses, wholesalers) on their account, with a filling rate resulting in an overstaffing of vehicles in circulation in the cities (Kammas & Zendal, 2017). Being aware of the significance of urban logistics in modern societies, the traditional urban network leads to weak management of freight transport in urban areas. According to the High Commission for Planning, the flow of goods that pass through the region of Casablanca is about 50.8%. At this occupancy rate, most problems can arise, such as road congestion, high pollution levels and low UFT performance (Elhasbi et al., 2015). Here, the fleet of vehicles in the Moroccan UFT is constituted of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles (light and heavy-duty trucks). Very importantly, the penetration rate of ECVs is weak, and the city policy must, therefore, well integrate transport and logistics practices. However, the question of sustainability in transport has been embedded in the national strategies. According to the Strategy for the Logistics Competitiveness Development, Morocco intends to lower its emissions of CO2 by 35% and create 96,000 jobs within the sector of transport by the year 2030 (Elhasbi et al., 2015). Elhasbi et al., (2015) made a study about sustainable transport in Morocco, and confirmed that the question of sustainability in freight transport is far from being a priority for freight transport providers since the market and competition pressure them to prioritize costs and the level of service.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Logistics: Logistics is one of the most vital functions of the economy and is a service activity which aims to manage the flow of materials by making available and managing resources corresponding to needs, to economic conditions and for a determined quality of service, under satisfactory safety and security conditions.
Electric Vehicles: The electric vehicle is a vehicle that draws its energy from electric batteries or a fuel cell. It is opposed to the thermal vehicle, which itself is powered by the energy of a fossil fuel or a biofuel. The electric vehicle comprises one or more electric motors.
Sustainability Transport Strategy: Sustainability transport strategy can be defined as when the community tries to provide commuters the means of transport that efficiently meet environmental, economic, and social aspects by mitigating unnecessary impacts and their associated costs, over pertinent space, and time factors.
Renewable Energies: Renewable energies all energies produced via a so-called “inexhaustible” energy source, which regenerates easily. There are five major families of renewable energies. Solar photovoltaic and thermal energy refers to electricity produced from photovoltaic panels and heat produced via thermal collectors. Wind power is energy created from the wind. There are two types: onshore and offshore. In both cases, the wind turns blades connected to the wind turbine generator, which transforms the mechanical energy of the wind into electrical energy. Hydraulic energy is obtained by harnessing the motive power of water. Energy is created by passing water through turbines, thereby transforming the force of currents into electrical energy. Biomass energy is energy from combustion or anaerobic digestion. Geothermal energy is the use of energy contained in the basement to transform it into a source of heat and electricity. It is inexhaustible, stable, clean energy that is available all year round without interruption.
Sustainability: Sustainability can be defined as the ultimate goal of achieving a fulfilling life while respecting the boundaries of nature, which suggest, therefore, that sustainable development is the process of achieving sustainability.
Urban Logistics: Urban logistics covers all the activities inherent in the transport of goods in the city. Located at the crossroads of the challenges of urban development, economic dynamics, and quality of life, it is taking a growing interest in the overall functioning of the city and its management requires efficient rationalization of its components.
Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) Approach: One of the most well-known branches of decision theory is MCDM. It is a subdivision of the larger class of Operations Research (OR) models that deal with decision problems in the presence of many decision criteria. MCDM could be divided into Multi-Objective Decision Making (MODM) and Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) and each approach has its own distinct features.
Transportation: Transportation is the action of transporting someone or something or the process of being transported. Goods transport includes any movement of goods on board any mode of transport: rail, road, river, sea, air, etc. It is measured in tonne-kilometres or, on a given route, in tonnes.