Why Electrify? A Qualitative-empirical Study on Electrification of Fleet Transportation Systems

Global climate change is one of the most pressing matters needing to be addressed by the worldwide community. The deployment of electric vehicles in logistical fleets offers a promising approach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, organizations barely adopt this technology. Thus, this study aims to understand the factors that enable and hinder the innovation adoption process. In this context, we focus on the perceived characteristics of the electrified fleet as an innovation and on the characteristics of the organizations as the adopters of the innovation. Our study conducted semistructured interviews to assess and gain a comprehensive understanding of the influencing factors. The preliminary results suggest that the relevant characteristics of the decision-making unit such as corporate reputation, EV action radius requirements, and driving forces in the organization have positive and negative effects on the perceived characteristics of the innovation, which are cost of ownership, technical requirements, and environmental superiority. Both sets of characteristics in turn, determine whether the innovation of the electrification of the organization's transportation fleet is adopted or rejected.