Promoting Sustainability through E-Vehicle Procurement: Experiences from Three Continents

Public and private entities face increasing demands to reduce the environmental impacts of mobility. A prominent strategy for meeting these demands is replacing internal combustion engine vehicles with electric vehicles (e-vehicles) in municipality and corporate fleets. Despite its potential, (sustainable) e-vehicle procurement remains an underutilised means of promoting sustainability in mobility. Some of the hurdles relate to lack of knowledge, insufficient commitment from organisations, and the perceived conflict between costs and sustainability. Despite these well-known challenges, a detailed understanding of the global e-vehicle procurement processes and the potential pitfalls and best practices that enable successful procurement is lacking. These limitations impede our understanding of how procurement practices vary globally and hinder future efforts to bring sustainable procurement to the forefront as a worldwide means of tacking global sustainability issues related to mobility, particularly the electrification of transport. To address this shortcoming, we conducted a qualitative case study on e-vehicle procurement drawing on interviews and qualitative survey data of procurers involved in a project aiming to promote urban electric mobility in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Based on the responses, there are differences in existing regulations and guidelines governing procurements, as well as in the level of e-vehicle maturity, which affects how procurements are carried out. We recommend that procurers find a balance between flexibility and sufficient detail when formulating procurement criteria for successful context-specific solutions, utilize the domain expertise of providers to overcome lack of experience and clarify responsibilities and consolidate differing procedures in joint procurements.