Planning support for cost-neutral electrified construction logistics (mass handling)

Purpose and goal

The electrification of construction transport poses new challenges: vehicles, machines and charging infrastructure require extensive investments, and planning complexity increases. Already numbered and fragmented companies become more numerous as energy companies and electricity grid operators are involved. There is a need of a system perspective and integrated digital tools, hence the goal is to develop decision support that enables TCO-neutral electrification of construction logistics.

Expected effects and result

Expected results include scenario-based TCO analyses, optimization models for regional mass balancing, logistics and energy flows, as well as guidelines for procurement, risk allocation and data sharing. Contributing both to raising the system readiness level and to creating scalable solutions that can accelerate the electrification of construction and increased competitiveness of the transport industry. This supports FFI´s objective of fossil-free, efficient and competitive transport systems.

Planned approach and implementation

The project is based on action research principles and develops tools for multi-actor planning that coordinate flows between different construction projects and integrate on-site and off-site logistics. This is done by combining simulation models with new business models to improve regional mass balancing, energy supply and logistics flows. Simulations show how capacity utilization can be improved by identifying bottlenecks, which lead to less transport and lower costs.