Introduction. The transportation industry, as one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels, significantly contributes to environmental pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. The development and commercialization of electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged as a key strategy to reduce air pollution, decrease dependence on fossil fuels, and transition toward clean transportation. However, the widespread adoption of EVs is not merely a technological transformation; it requires the design and management of a sustainable, efficient, and integrated supply chain capable of simultaneously addressing economic, social, and environmental challenges. In Iran, despite some preliminary studies and limited initiatives by domestic automakers, the development of this industry faces numerous obstacles. A systematic review of the literature reveals that previous studies have largely addressed technological, economic, or environmental challenges unidimensionally, with few studies providing a comprehensive and simultaneous identification and prioritization of these challenges within an integrated framework at the supply chain level of Iran's automotive industry. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to identify and prioritize the sustainable supply chain management challenges of electric vehicles in Iran, emphasizing the role of the automaker as the focal firm of the supply chain.
Methods. This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical survey in terms of execution. The study employs a mixed-method (qualitative-quantitative) approach. In the qualitative phase, 33 initial challenges across three dimensions (economic, social, and environmental) were identified through a targeted literature review using relevant keywords in Scopus and Noor databases. Subsequently, the fuzzy Delphi technique was applied in two rounds with the participation of 17 experts (academic experts in industrial management and industrial engineering, and industry experts including managers and senior specialists in production, logistics, and planning from Iran Khodro and Saipa companies) to screen and refine these challenges. In the quantitative phase, the fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) with Chang's extent analysis approach was employed to determine the importance and priority of the final challenges. All quantitative analyses were performed in the Excel software environment using Visual Basic coding.
Results and Discussion. The fuzzy Delphi results indicated that out of 33 initial challenges, 18 challenges achieved the necessary threshold (defuzzified mean above 0.7), and the expert disagreement between the two rounds was less than 0.1, indicating a high consensus among the expert panel. The FAHP prioritization results revealed that among the three main sustainability dimensions, economic challenges ranked first with a normalized weight of 0.562, followed by environmental challenges (0.242) and social challenges (0.196). At the sub-criteria level of the economic dimension, "EV battery technology challenges" obtained the highest priority (0.713), followed by "product cost" (0.602). "Challenges of EV parts supply" (0.398), "high infrastructure costs" (0.375), and "production challenges" (0.269) occupied subsequent ranks. In the social dimension, "social acceptance challenge" was identified as the most significant factor (0.495), followed by "after-sales services" (0.467) and "unfavorable social brand image of EVs" (0.320). In the environmental dimension, "environmental pollution of batteries" ranked first (0.525), with "battery recycling" (0.456) and "environmental challenges of manufacturing and production" (0.277) following. The inconsistency rates for all pairwise comparisons were calculated to be below 0.1, confirming the reliability of the results. The discussion section further elaborates on why economic priorities dominate in Iran due to structural factors such as currency fluctuations, dependence on imported battery technology, and insufficient government incentives.
Conclusions. This research provides a comprehensive and prioritized framework of sustainable supply chain challenges for electric vehicles in Iran. The findings emphasize that focusing on battery technology development, reducing product costs, and managing social acceptance are essential prerequisites for success in this area. Practical recommendations are presented across short-term, medium-term, and long-term horizons.