Supporting the adoption of electric vehicles in urban road freight transport – A multi-criteria analysis of policy measures in Germany

• We collect 23 policy measures applied in Europe supporting electric freight vehicles.
• German policymakers and users rate the measures in a multi-criteria analysis.
• We find that electric urban freight mobility requires dedicated policy support.
• Recommendable policy measures vary, depending on the local implementation goal.
• Compared to fiscal options, policymakers underestimate the effect of legal measures.

Policies in Germany to support electric vehicles, which are free of exhaust emissions, mostly focus on urban road passenger transport. However, road freight vehicles are a main source of the traffic air pollutants and noise emissions in cities. Available vehicle types, tour planning and purchase decisions in urban road freight transport differ from the passenger transport segment. The political and scientific literature lacks a comprehensive discussion of specific policy measures to support electric urban road freight vehicles. This article contributes to the existing body of knowledge, by undertaking a multi-criteria analysis of policy measures to support battery electric freight vehicles based on the rating by two stakeholder groups, “policymakers” and “freight electric vehicle users”. These stakeholders rate 23 policy measures as suggested in the literature or which are implemented in European countries. In comparing and ranking the rating results of the groups, we find that the discordance between the groups can be large and offers noticeable insight and room for future research and practice. Although financial support of electric vehicles is often named in the literature as the primary measure to overcome the total cost of ownership gap of freight electric vehicles, the current study shows that the effect of special legal measures and supporting the setup of company-charging infrastructure are underestimated by the policymakers. Recommendable policy options – beyond several fiscal measures – are to request emission-free vehicles in municipal tenders, to allow drivers with a class B license to drive freight EVs over 3.5 tons, or to implement a city toll on the long-term. The practicability of other policy measures depends on the local implementation goals of the municipality. Hence, a transparent debate on the aim of supporting electric freight mobility is as necessary as choosing measures targeted at the freight transportation segment.

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