The Clean Fleets user needs assessment has brought up a number of challenges procurers face when procuring vehicles with higher standards of energy and environmental performance. Three working groups will discuss and try to resolve some of the key issues:

• Buses – fuel & technology options
• Life Cycle Costing
• Monitoring and contract management

Each group will produce a report, fact sheets, FAQs and case studies that will become available in early 2014. Public authorities, technical and professional experts who would like to participate in the exchange and actively input experiences in terms of barriers or lessons learned, can join the groups by sending an email to . The discussions will take place online and via telephone. This exchange is not open to vehicle manufacturers at this time, but their involvement will be requested as part of ongoing work.

The Clean Fleets project started off with a thorough user needs analysis to understand what support public authorities and fleet operators require implementing the Clean Vehicles Directive (CVD).  The analysis is now completed based on more than 200 responses to a call for interest, over 80 responses to an online survey that was available in nine languages and 50 telephone interviews.

The needs assessment has shown that many respondents are aware of the CVD or corresponding national legislation, but the majority has not accessed guidance on implementation.

The analysis has also brought up a number of challenges procurers face. These include:

• Political will to purchase clean and energy-efficient vehicles is often undermined by operational challenges.
• Finding vehicles that are fit for purpose, good value and have a sufficiently good environmental performance.
• Lack of data on emissions other than CO₂.
• Decisions on the appropriate technology/ fuel can be time-consuming and risky.
• The clean vehicle market is modest, which is perceived to mean higher costs.

Moreover, respondents provided detailed input into the kind of support that they would like the Clean Fleets project to provide and what topics they are particularly interested in. These results will shape the upcoming activities and offers of support. For a more detailed analysis and results, please refer to the full user needs analysis report.

The Clean Fleets project has organised a webinar on 3 May 2013 to better define the exact topics in clean vehicle procurement, which the project will focus on - both through working groups and European workshops.The presentation and minutes of the meeting are now available.

We would like to thank all participants for their contributions!