Purpose: Electric cargo cycles (ECCs) can be seen as a good alternative to conventional delivery vans for last-mile delivery. With their wider implementation, battery range is frequently mentioned as one of the main limitations of ECCs. Fast charging and battery swapping are two potential technologies to address this challenge. This paper preliminarily explores the feasibility of adopting battery swapping and fast charging to address the battery range limitation of ECCs, and provides insights on future research directions.

Methodology: the study is based on a systematic literature review. Afterwards, a content analysis is performed. Additionally, some grey literature regarding the latest technical parameters of charging technology was analyzed as well, in order to consider state-of-the-art technologies. Collected data is cross-checked in a prudential way from the official website of more than one manufacturer.

Findings: due to their wider adoption, ECCs are likely to work longer hours and more frequent shifts, often traveling over 100 km and working more than 10 hours per day. During daily operations, the idle time is usually very short. Riders sometimes find it difficult even to take lunch breaks due to the high work intensity. Moreover, the duration of reloading parcels when going back to depots and the idle time in which messengers stop and wait for the parcel to be signed for receiving is around 5 minutes, which is not long enough for battery recharge.

Regarding battery range, manufacturer estimations often fail to match real-world energy consumption in urban last-mile delivery. Rider assistance has a limited impact on extending electric range. Additionally, environmental factors such as weather and terrain can negatively impact battery range and increase rider fatigue, reducing pedalling assistance. To have a more comprehensive understanding of the battery range of ECCs, 20 factors affecting battery range and their interrelationships are identified and a conceptual framework is developed. After that, battery swapping and fast charging options are analyzed and compared based on charging speed, infrastructure requirements, and technical challenges.

The evidence from the literature is that when a single battery capacity can't meet distribution requirements, the fastest charging technology available may not suffice for enough rapid energy replenishment. Equipping ECCs with smaller, easily swappable batteries is then a promising solution for robust delivery operations without long breaks, despite higher initial investment.

Originality: This paper is one of the first papers that discusses the potential of employing battery swapping and fast charging technologies on ECCs for last-mile delivery, providing new insights into these emerging concepts. Furthermore, this paper develops an original framework that identifies and analyzes the factors affecting the battery range of ECCs, providing a comprehensive understanding of the vehicle performance characteristics in real-life operational conditions. Additionally, research gaps are identified, and further potential directions are proposed.

Purpose: For efficient and effective promotion of sustainability in urban transportation, the predictors of transportation like ridesharing is imperative. The study aimed at segmenting urban dwellers basing on their perceptions in the use of ride-sharing. Specifically, the perceived benefits of ride-sharing including cost, social, sustainability, and efficiency were related to satisfaction with ride-sharing. The Social Exchange Theory integrating sustainability were the theoretical lenses for the study.

Methodology: A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. A proportionate and convenient sampling strategies were used to pick respondents in the three districts of Dar es Salaam, a commercial and largest city in Tanzania. A total of 613 valid cases out of 630 were used for analyses. Using the Chi-Square Automatic Interaction Decision (CHAID) tree, the respondent’s satisfaction with ride-sharing was used as the dependent variable while the benefits (efficiency, costs, social, and sustainability) were used as predictor and grouping variables.

Findings: the decision tree yielded 5 different segments with efficiency, cost, and sustainability in that order to be relevant predictors for satisfaction. The highly satisfied group tended to focus more on efficiency as well as being cost conscious. The 5 segments were further explored using one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with demographic variables. Among the demographics, age, income, occupation, and place of residence can be used to further differentiate the segments.

Originality: The paper extends the use of CHAID into the context of urban logistics and sustainability in a less researched sub-Saharan African context. Practically, the results provide insights on how to market ride-sharing both online and offline for higher impacts including sustainability aspects. Specifically, to marketers of ridesharing can prioritize efficiency and costs in their marketing strategies. As sustainability was the last to be included in the segmentation, sustainability advocates need to undertake more social marketing to change the attitudes favoring sustainability. Theoretically the results offer support to the Social Exchange Theory with the three significant factors impacting satisfaction with ridesharing in urban context of sub-Saharan African country.