Strategic selection of electric vehicles in the context of smart city development in Albania using the fuzzy MCDM methods

The automotive industry is undergoing a significant transformation towards electric vehicles (EVs) with the main goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and for a sustainable and green environment. Different types of EVs are introduced every day in the market where selecting an optimal vehicle for purchase constitutes a complex decision-making. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to evaluate EVs in Albania using multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDM). A total of 12 vehicles were analyzed based on 4 main criteria and 12 sub-criteria. The fuzzy Logarithm Methodology of Additive Weights (LMAW) method was applied to find the weights of the main criteria while the fuzzy Logarithmic Percentage Change-driven Objective Weighting (LOPCOW) method was applied to find the weights of the sub-criteria. For the EV ranking, the fuzzy Ranking of Alternatives with Weights of Criterion (RAWEC) method was applied. The findings showed that the most important criteria are the technical criteria and the Auto 11 vehicle showed the best results. The combination of Fuzzy LMAW-Fuzzy LOPCOW-Fuzzy RAWEC methods also constitutes the novelty of this research, which has not been applied before in this field. The contribution of this research consists in providing a comprehensive set of selection criteria to choose the best alternative of the EV fleet in Albania. Furthermore, the contribution of this research was the application of a hybrid methodology in the evaluation and selection of an electric vehicle as an ongoing choice faced by vehicle buyers.