Engage Stakeholders

Researchers and decision makers must intentionally engage stakeholders from the very beginning to understand their needs and barriers to accessing ZE LDV alternatives and decommissioning ICE LDVs. A stakeholder can be an individual or an entity that is affected by or can affect an action, event, policy, or decision (Freeman, 1984; Volger et al., 2017). The list of stakeholders include: vehicle users, community members indirectly affected by transportation systems, employees of the transportation and manufacturing industry, insurance companies, financial institutions, and federal, state, and local government agencies. We are particularly interested in elevating the voices of stakeholders in underserved communities, as discussed in the previous section.