Multi-criteria alternative-fuel technology selection using interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets

•A multi-expert & multi-criteria method using interval-valued IFS (IVIFS) is proposed.•IVIFS are first time used for the alternative-fuel vehicle selection problem.•The proposed method is applied to a utility company facing this problem in the USA.•Detailed sensitivity and scenario analyses are given in the application section.•The analyses are enhanced by three dimensional and radar graphs.

Fleet operators periodically update and upgrade their vehicles in order to take opportunity of new technologies. Alternative-fuel vehicles provide opportunities to lower fuel costs as well as to reduce environmental footprint. Decision on alternative-fuel vehicle adoption is a challenging problem for fleet operators in today's technological and market development level. This paper focuses on the alternative-fuel technology selection problem of a utility company in the USA. The paper develops a multi-expert, multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method based on interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IVIFS) with linguistic data, and finds that the best fit for the utility company is an extended-range natural gas vehicle.