Topic 2: Transforming the Product System

To achieve sustainable vehicles, it’s essential to transform not only the vehicles themselves but the entire product system. This necessitates managing the entire product life cycle (i.e., from cradle-to-cradle) of vehicle and transport solutions more sustainably, facilitating the shift towards a more sustainable product system. This topic delves into managing and transforming the life cycle or value chain of vehicles and transport solutions to enable more sustainable product systems. It encompasses pursuits such as circular economy strategies (e.g., repair, reuse, repurpose, recycling), sustainable supply chain management, and innovative sustainable business. 

This topic invites to submit contributions that aim to explore the transformative potential of product and service systems among society, including citizens, firms, and public organisations, to enable sustainable and circular vehicle and transport solutions. 

Contributions shall focus on, but it are not limited to, the following research questions and topics: 

  1. What are the different circular economy practices in the vehicle and transport solutions supply chain? (e.g., upstream, focal firm, downstream) 
  1. How to foster collaboration among stakeholders, including among competitors, to allow the design of more circular delivery and take back operations between OEMs, clients and suppliers? 
  1. How to develop circular and profitable transport routes and modes for take-back operations ? (e.g., take-back of pellets and other reusable packaging) 
  1. How to optimize the recyclability of the different types of vehicles and transport solutions (e.g., internal combustion engine vehicles vs. electric vehicles)? 
  1. To what extent is it possible to ensure the circularity of vehicles and transport solutions (i.e., them adhering to the circular economy principles all along its lifecycle, including raw material extraction)? 
  1. How to promote circular vehicles and transport solutions in areas with different sustainability-related priorities (e.g., developed versus developing countries)? 

Given the nature of these topics, a wide variety of studies are invited, ranging from the proposition of technical and methodological concepts and prototypes over single and multiple-case studies of the implementation of different digital technologies, to deductive empirical studies investigating antecedents and potential effects on all system levels.