Electric mobility in the Sicilian short food supply chain

Abstract

At the base of the SFSC there is the creation of a trust relationship between producers and consumers, usually identifiable in a face-to-face interaction, thus allowing a direct relationship that in the global FSC is totally absent. According to the definition of short food supply chains developed by Marsden et al. (2002), SFSCs have the capacity to "resocialise" or "re-spatialise" food, thus allowing consumers to make value-judgements about foods. Authors make clear that "it is not the number of times a product is handled or the distance over which it is ultimately transported which is necessarily critical, but the fact that the product reaches the con

Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Agri-Food Products Delivered with Electric Vehicles in the Short Supply Chains

“…Therefore, in studying an individual’s environmental attitude, psychology can be the relevant support in assessing the degree to which individuals favour or disfavour a particular environment-related object/action (Kaiser et al, 2011). In this sense, the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale is considered as the widely used environmental attitude tool in various fields for investigating individuals’ attitudes towards the environment (Giacomarra et al, 2019). The NEP analyses several key components of individuals’ environmental concerns, including limits to economic growth, anti-anthropocentrism, fragility of nature’s balance, human dispensation and the possibility of potentially catastrophic environmental changes or eco-crises affected by people (Dunlap et al, 2000).…”

“…For instance, de Mello Bandeira and co-authors (2019) and Ewert et al (2021) positively evaluated the use of small EVs in last-mile deliveries, showing that it is an attractive and reliable alternative from the economic, environmental and social points of view. However, several factors hinder the adoption of EVs in the SSC, mainly related to the high and unsustainable implementation cost (Barnes et al, 2019), battery life, lack of fast assistance from mechanics, lack of charging infrastructure network, low return in the short term and less visible and tangible results (Galati et al, 2021b; Giacomarra et al, 2019). Thus, a deeper understanding of consumers’ attitudes towards farmers’ green initiatives and their WTP a premium price for agri-food products delivered with EVs could reduce farmers’ reluctance and encourage them to make green investments.…”

The air quality benefits of electric vehicles’ adoption in the short food supply chain

“…The empirical analysis conducted compared the environmental costs caused by the adoption of a commercial BEV (Nissan e-NV200) and that produced by an ICEV, with comparable features (Fiat Doblò 1.4 T-jet Pc-Tn cargo Easy) in the SFSC. The BEV has a cargo capacity of 4.2 m 3 , which is equivalent to 2 pallets of 705 kg, which, according to previous findings (Giacomarra et al, 2019), satisfies the needs of farmers participating in SFSC initiatives (Giacomarra et al, 2019). Specifically, we estimated the environmental cost associated with the distribution of foods from farms to local retail stores and farmers' markets.…”

“…However, other studies analysing the transport phase of the SFSC find conflicting results. If, on the one hand, the reduction in kilometres travelled, compared to the global supply chain, helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, on the other, the frequency with which farmers participate in farmers' markets can generate a greater carbon footprint (Galati et al, 2021;Giacomarra et al, 2019;Schmit et al, 2017). Indeed, as pointed out by Malak-Rawlikowska et al (2019), conventional agri-food supply chains, even if developed over a long distance, have, per product unit, a lower impact in terms of food miles and carbon footprint than short supply chains.…”

How to Improve the Market Penetration of New Energy Vehicles in China: An Agent-Based Model with a Three-Level Variables Structure

“…Fourth, the stakeholder engagement can encourage the spread of NEVs, and a multi-stakeholder approach can enrich the agent choice of ABML in the future [32]. Fifth, the proposed method can be applied in some related domains such as commercial vehicles, the food supply chain, and new ecological paradigms [33].…”