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The electric motor and multi-speed transmission hub are essential components for an electric bicycle. Traditionally, these two devices have been designed and manufactured independently. The purpose of this study is to propose a novel electromechanical device that artfully integrates an exterior-rotor brushless permanent-magnet (BLPM) motor into a transmission hub to become a compact structural assembly.

A novel design that integrates a three-phase, 20-pole/18-slot exterior-rotor BLPM motor with a multi-speed transmission hub composed of a six-link, two-degrees-of-freedom (2-DOF) compound planetary gear train (PGT) is presented in this study to overcome inherent drawbacks of existing designs. An analytical approach, based on fundamental circuits, is developed to synthesize the clutching sequences and numbers of teeth of all gears of the PGT.

The integrated device provides six forward speeds, including two underdrives, two direct drives, and two overdrives, as well as two drive modes: the motor-drive mode and the human-drive mode, for electric bicycles. The main feature of the proposed design is the spur gear teeth merged with the pole shoes of the stator to dramatically minimize the detent torque, which is an oscillatory torque that always induces vibration and acoustic noise of the BLPM motor.

The gear teeth on the pole shoes of the stator provide functions not only for transmission, but also act as dummy slots for adjusting the magnetostatic field of the BLPM motor to effectively reduce the detent torque. The peak value of the detent torque of the integrated design is only 9 percent of the original BLPM motor with identical magnet properties and motor dimensions. Such a feature is contributive in suppressing the vibration and acoustic noise of the electric bicycle's BLPM motor. A BLPM motor rated at 310 W and 250 r/min for the integrated device is presented and analyzed by using the commercial finite-element package Ansoft/Maxwell 2D Field Simulator.

This chapter focuses on strategies to initiate a shift in mobility behaviour away from private cars towards a combination of more environmentally friendly transport modes including public transport, ride- and car sharing or even completely carbon-free modes like walking and cycling. The requirement for such a shift is that people must be able to actually choose between different travelling options and combine them within an intermodal mobility network. Here, shared mobility has a considerable potential to fill the gap between public and individual transport options.

This chapter summarises results from different studies on shared mobility from the providers’, the users’ and the political perspective. The user’s perspective is based on an empirical study comparing car sharers’, car drivers’ and public transport users’ attitudes and mobility patterns.

The empirical findings from the case study have shown that shuttle trips by car in general, and to the train station in particular, are an important field of action for improving the environmental impact of intermodal trips. The study has also shown that car sharing enables people to live without a private car by using different transport modes for different purposes. As the majority of car sharers report needing a car only one to three times a month, they have a very small carbon footprint compared to the average car owner.

Mobility patterns are determined by local transport options as well as by personal routines. Hence, current changes due to new shared mobility options seem to have a considerable direct impact on how people organise their daily lives on the one hand and an indirect impact on their living costs on the other hand, since private cars have an important share of private household costs.

From an environmental perspective, any incentives to encourage people to choose alternative forms of transport over their private cars would seem to be particularly effective. Thus, understanding the behaviour and needs of multi- and intermodal travellers is an important step towards sustainable mobility. Acknowledging that most travellers still need a car every now and then, car sharing is an essential addition to public transport systems, supporting both public transport use and carbon-free mobility like walking and cycling.

Purpose – To review the place of bicycle transportation within the Chinese national objective of sustainable development.

Methodology – The chapter provides an analysis of the evolution of bicycle transportation policies in China, and a discussion of the latest developments in the function and operation of public bicycle hire schemes.

Findings – Due to high population density, the prevailing mix of land use and a lack of affordability of cars and motor scooters, bicycle transportation has historically been very common in the urban areas of China. However, since the 1990s, many Chinese cities implemented restrictive policies on the development of bicycle transportation and the modal share of bicycles has reduced sharply.

Practical implications – The chapter suggests that China would need to create favourable conditions for bicycle transportation in urban areas through means such as policy support, land use planning, use of economic levers and through creating an acceptable social and cultural atmosphere for cycling. Finally, the maintenance of a relatively high proportion of bicycle traffic would need to be regarded as an index for sustainable urban development.

The aim of this study is to propose a governance model and key performance indicators on how policymakers can contribute to a more accessible, inclusive and sustainable mobility within and across smart cities to examine sustainable urban mobility grounded on the rational management of public transportation infrastructure.

This study employed desk research methodology grounded on secondary data from existing documents and previous research to develop a sustainable mobility governance model that explores key factors that influence future urban policy development. The collected secondary data was descriptively analyzed to provide initiatives and elements needed to achieve sustainable mobility services in smart cities.

Findings from this study provide evidence on how cities can benefit from the application of data from different sources to provide value-added services to promote integrated and sustainable mobility. Additionally, findings from this study discuss the role of smart mobility for sustainable services and the application for data-driven initiatives toward sustainable smart cities to enhance mobility interconnectivity, accessibility and multimodality. Findings from this study identify technical and non-technical factors that impact the sustainable mobility transition.

Practically, this study advocates for the use of smart mobility and data-driven services in smart cities to improve commuters' behavior aimed at long-term behavior change toward sustainable mobility by creating awareness on the society and supporting policymakers for informed decisions. Implications from this study provide information that supports policymakers and municipalities to implement data-driven mobility services.

This study provides implications toward behavioral change of individuals to adopt a more sustainable mode of travels, increase citizens’ quality of life, improve economic viability of business involved in providing mobility-related services and support decision-making for municipalities and policymakers during urban planning and design by incorporating the sustainability dimension into their present and future developments.

This paper explores how urban transportation can greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provides implications for cities to improve accessibility and sustainability of public transportation, while simultaneously promoting the adoption of more environmentally friendly means of mobility within and across cities. Besides, this study provides a detailed discussion focusing on the potential opportunities and challenges faced in urban environment in achieving sustainable mobility. The governance model developed in this study can also be utilized by technology startups and transportation companies to assess the factors that they need to put in place or improve for the provision of sustainable mobility services.

The concept of green urban mobility has emerged as one of the best approaches for promoting environmental-friendly transportation in local communities. Green urban mobility aims to reshape public transportation system and enhance mobility, with emphasis on deploying digital technologies to promote sustainable public transportation. Therefore, this study aims to analyze existing public transportation policies by exploring how local communities can facilitate green urban mobility by developing a sociotechnical urban-based mobility model highlighting key factors that impact regions transitioning toward sustainable transportation.

This study investigates “the role of data for green urban mobility policies toward sustainable public transportation in local communities” in the form of a systematic literature review and insights from Norway. Secondary data from the literature and qualitative analysis of the national transport plan document was descriptively analyzed to provide inference.

Findings from this study provides specific measures and recommendations as actions for achieving a national green mobility practice. More important, findings from this study offers evidence from the Norwegian context to support decision-makers and stakeholders on how sustainable public transportation can be achieved in local communities. In addition, findings present data-driven initiatives being put in place to promote green urban mobility to decrease the footprint from public transportation in local municipalities.

This study provides green mobility policies as mechanisms to be used to achieve a sustainable public transportation in local communities. Practically, this study advocates for the use of data to support green urban mobility for transport providers, businesses and municipalities administration by analyzing and forecasting mobility demand and supply in terms of route, cost, time, network connection and mode choice.

This study provides factors that would promote public and nonmotorized transportation and also aid toward achieving a national green urban mobility strategy. Socially, findings from this study provides evidence on specific green urban mobility measures to be adopted by stakeholders in local communities.

This study presents a sociotechnical urban-based mobility model that is positioned between the intersection of “human behavior” and “infrastructural design” grounded on the factors that influence green urban mobility policies for local communities transiting to a sustainable public transportation. Also, this study explores key factors that may influence green urban mobility policies for local communities toward achieving a more sustainable public transportation leading to a more inclusive, equitable and accessible urban environment.

The last mile of parcel deliveries is a key process to service providers, with global costs that reach up to 70 billion euros per year. Moreover, due to urban population growth and to the rise of e-commerce, the importance of last-mile deliveries and its impacts to the environment and quality of life in cities tend to increase even more. This chapter proposes a more comprehensive methodology to assess alternative last-mile distribution strategies in terms of environmental and economic aspects and presents an application to the distribution of a postal company located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We evaluated the use of small electric vehicles (i.e., tricycles) in the last mile deliveries by assessing two scenarios: (1) the baseline scenario using a light commercial vehicle and (2) a scenario using electric tricycles. Results indicated that the use of electric tricycle is a more feasible alternative regarding the economic and environmental aspects as well as to maintain the service level of the company.

This paper aims to analyze the effect of a recent disruption of Mexico's gasoline supply chain on the usage of public bike-sharing systems in Mexico City and Guadalajara.

The authors use a detailed data set to understand the usage patterns of Ecobici and Mibici. The authors assess both systems with a differences-in-differences econometric model using the least popular stations as a control group.

The authors find that the number of rides increased significantly shortly after the event because less popular stations became more utilized.

The authors show that when the effects of gasoline shortages were noticeable, usage rates increased in Guadalajara and Mexico City, but the rise primarily came from the users selecting more bikes from the less popular stations. Therefore, the authors show that citizens in both cities regarded bike-sharing as an adequate means of transportation, maximizing system usage during a disruptive time. This finding suggests that cities should invest in improving public bike-sharing systems to reduce carbon emissions and increase their population's well-being.

The authors use a publicly available data set to understand how citizens answered to a major disruption. Furthermore, this is one of the first papers that align supply chain risk management with sustainable transportation and analyzes its effects on citizen behavior in a Latin American setting.

El propósito de este artículo es analizar el efecto de una interrupción en la cadena de suministro de la gasolina en México sobre el uso del sistema de bicicletas públicas en Ciudad de México y Guadalajara.

Usamos una base de datos detallada para entender los patrones de uso de Ecobici y Mibici. Analizamos ambos sistemas a través de un modelo econométrico de diferencias en diferencias utilizando las estaciones menos afectadas como grupo de control.

Encontramos que la utilización del sistema aumentó en número de viajes de manera significativa luego del evento. Esto es debido a que las estaciones menos populares se empezaron a utilizar de manera más intensiva.

Demostramos que los habitantes de las dos ciudades decidieron buscar alternativas de transporte cuando los efectos de la escasez de gasolina se sintieron con fuerza. Esto significa que los ciudadanos consideran que las bicicletas públicas son un medio de transporte adecuado y que durante episodios inoportunos decidieron buscar opciones en las estaciones menos populares maximizando el uso del sistema. Por lo que las ciudades deberían invertir en la mejora de dichos sistemas para que sean más utilizados y así se reduzcan las emisiones de carbono y para que aumente el bienestar en la población.

Utilizamos una base de datos abierta para entender cómo los ciudadanos respondieron a una interrupción importante. Adicionalmente, este es uno de los primeros trabajos que alinea la gestión de riesgos en la cadena de suministros con transporte sostenible y analiza su efecto sobre el comportamiento de los usuarios en un contexto latinoamericano.

The rapid growth of emerging market firms (EMFs) has been a topic of interest for the past two decades, especially in China. However, few studies have discussed how and why EMFs can impel the upgrading of their capabilities to quickly win competitive advantages in the global market. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to unravel the implausible upgrading phenomenon from the perspective of technological proximity.

This paper adopts a single case study, specifically that of a leading Chinese e-bike firm, with a special focus on the dynamic nature of the capability upgrading process and underlying mechanisms.

The results show that taking advantage of technological proximity is an important way for EMFs to climb the ladder of capability upgrading. The stage-based process reveals how capability upgrading is achieved through elaborate actions related to technological proximity. Furthermore, this study finds three learning mechanisms behind the technological proximity, which enable firms to successfully upgrade to higher levels of capabilities. In particular, the trigger role played by contextual conditions in guiding firms' capability upgrading is highlighted and characterized.

This study enriches traditional capability upgrading literature from a technological proximity perspective, especially the traditional static upgrading research related to EMFs. The authors also contribute to the conceptualization of technological proximity. However, the research setting is China's e-bike industry; therefore, the study's generalizability to other emerging markets and industries may be limited.

The results show that it is important to recognize the value of the transfer and sharing of technology between proximal industries for local governments. Also, appropriate policies should be developed to break down the technology barriers between these industries. Moreover, rather than catching up with the superior technologies of multinational corporations in advanced countries, focusing on products with high technological proximity in local or regional areas may be more helpful for EMFs' upgrading.

This paper investigates the capability upgrading process and mechanisms in EMFs, particularly with respect to the role played by technological proximity.