Commercial fleets as early markets for electric vehicles

Albeit ambitious political targets for the introduction of electric mobility, actual sales figures for battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles stay low in Germany as in most other industrial countries. High purchase prices alone seem like an easy, yet too simple answer since a range of expensive conventional vehicles has always been sold in the market. The paper explores two technical limitations of electric vehicles and their impact on the use-case of private car-owners, at the same time pointing out which other use-cases - namely commercial fleets - are not affected by these and can thus serve as an early market for the introduction of battery-electric vehicles. The study draws from data collected in fleet trials with more than 350 electric vehicles in Hamburg (Germany) between the years 2009-2011 and current surveys amongst nearly 1,000 businesses.