Cohered model of adopting electric vehicle fleets in the East of England

There is limited research on effective electric vehicle (EV) fleet adoption for businesses to achieve decarbonisation of transport. This study applies cohered emergent theory to propose a model for adopting electric commercial vehicles to decarbonise vehicle fleet operations. We employed action research and used a mixed-methods approach to gather data from six different commercial vehicle fleet operating companies in the East of England. We modelled the quantitative data to forecast fuel cost-savings for the companies to switch their internal combustion engine vehicles to EVs. We complemented the quantitative insights with the thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with the fleet operators and feedback from the consuming public actors to explain how fleet operating companies can adopt EVs to generate cost-savings, reduce carbon footprint and potentially improve their operations. The study’s theoretical cohered EV adoption model offers useful insights for researchers and managers to consider decarbonising business transportation. Policy implications are discussed.