Enhancing Rural Agricultural Value Chains through Electric Mobility Services in Ethiopia
Clemens Pizzinini, Philipp Rosner, David Ziegler, Markus Lienkamp
TL;DR
Addressing transport bottlenecks in rural Ethiopian agricultural value chains, the paper proposes a problem-to-solution research approach that blends Design Science Research with Living Lab-style, participatory methods and a test electric vehicle. The aCar Mobility framework uses four Design Thinking–inspired phases, convergent mixed methods, and local partnerships to co-develop, prototype, and test vehicle-based mobility concepts. It emphasizes energy-sector coupling, open data, and context-specific KPIs focused on affordability, availability, and vehicle type, aiming to quantify EV transformation potential in SSA. The work offers a practical pathway for researchers, policymakers, and industry to design, validate, and scale sustainable rural mobility services in Ethiopia and similar settings.
Abstract
Transportation is a constitutional part of most supply and value chains in modern economies. Smallholder farmers in rural Ethiopia face severe challenges along their supply and value chains. In particular, suitable, affordable, and available transport services are in high demand. To develop context-specific technical solutions, a problem-to-solution methodology based on the interaction with technology is developed. With this approach, we fill the gap between proven transportation assessment frameworks and general user-centered techniques. Central to our approach is an electric test vehicle that is implemented in rural supply and value chains for research, development, and testing. Based on our objective and the derived methodological requirements, a set of existing methods is selected. Local partners are integrated in an organizational framework that executes major parts of this research endeavour in Arsi Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia.