What drives fleets? Organizations' perceptions of barriers and motivators for alternative-fuel vehicle adoption in British Columbia, Canada

Although it is important to transition all vehicles to zero-emission vehicles to meet net-zero climate targets, there is a relative dearth of research on adoption in fleets. Through semi-structured interviews with participants from 24 organizations in British Columbia (mostly adopters), I identify the barriers and motivators of alternative-fuel fleet vehicle adoption, including electric, hydrogen, and natural gas vehicles. Overall, participants mentioned more motivators than barriers. The most commonly mentioned motivators included: internal support for environmental sustainability, operations and maintenance savings, positive impact on reputation, vehicle purchase incentives, and a positive history of alternative fuel vehicle use. The most commonly mentioned barriers included: the high capital cost of vehicles, the limited market availability of AFVs, vehicle range concerns, and a lack of charging or fueling infrastructure. Results also suggest that the mentioned barriers and motivators tend to vary by fleet size, and organization type, namely private versus public.