Battery Electric Vehicle Design Specifications to Overcome Barriers in Developing Countries

The path towards clean mobility points in the direction of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as a possible transportation solution. Despite a growing market penetration worldwide, emerging countries are struggling to successfully adopt BEV with current vehicle models. The literature presents an embracing discussion about BEV barriers but lacks into suggesting practical actions into BEV design. Based on a product development methodology and value analysis, this research aims to review factors holding back the BEV adoption in developing countries and to apply these factors into BEV features and design specifications. The literature was systematically reviewed based on the Brazilian case scenario to cast customer requirements for numerical evaluation through the Mudge Method. These were later translated into design requirements and ranked according to their relative importance with the quality function deployment (QFD). The results show that vehicle safety, pricing, and range anxiety are the most influential requirements for the customers, so the design must strongly transmit these features. Battery issues and the selling price are found in the prior design requirements, so they must be the main guidelines in decision-making and the vehicle features. Based on these findings, it has been seen that a small urban car can fulfil an urban customer necessity with the present technology state and pricing, which can help to boost the BEV acceptance and the image of a ready concept for the market.