Logistics implications of electric car manufacturing

The increasingly important role of electric cars manufacturing needs to develop new logistics concepts in automotive industry. This article analyses critical issues in logistics operations of electric cars based on the in‐house perspective of the car manufacturer. The purpose of this paper is two‐fold. Firstly, to verify existing research about the impact of electric car manufacturing on logistics operations. Secondly, to investigate concrete logistics implications based on different electric car operations models. Therefore, we use manufacturing phenotypes, which can be applied to separate and classify configuration and coordination principles and helps to reach a better understanding of relationships with their logistics implications. The presented model is based on real case study data of global auto industry and supports the academic study of cross‐site comparisons. A holistic and consistent understanding of different operations types in electric car manufacturing will be necessary, which will help in evaluating the actual and future supply chain forms in the car industry.