SOLUTIONSplus Scale Up Concept Note: Buenos Aires Argentina

Summary

The Buenos Aires scale up concept note examines the opportunities and constraints surrounding the introduction of light electric vehicles in the city’s logistics sector. It begins by situating the SOLUTIONSplus activities within the broader regional programme, emphasising that replication pilots in Argentina demonstrated operational feasibility and confirmed strong potential for expansion. The document highlights Buenos Aires as a context where microhubs, cross docking models and locally manufactured electric vehicles have already been tested, providing a technical foundation for scale up. The analysis identifies structural barriers that limit progress, including fragmented institutions, unclear governance mandates, limited private sector capacity, low social acceptance, underdeveloped regulations and an unfavourable cost structure for electric vehicles. The document underscores that national and municipal policy frameworks, including the National Transportation and Climate Change Action Plan and the Buenos Aires Climate Action Plan 2050, provide high level support for decarbonisation but require operational detail, stronger regulatory instruments and targeted financial mechanisms to create enabling conditions. The note then outlines a scale up strategy that leverages the ACCESS project, which will run until 2029, to institutionalise low carbon logistics, strengthen capacity, demonstrate fleet electrification in postal services, and modernise operational practices through digital tools such as fleet tracking and dynamic routing. The strategy also includes the development of an Urban Logistics Masterplan, a regulatory framework for light electric vehicles, new operational models such as microhubs and cross docking centres, and a just transition approach for logistics workers. These elements collectively form an integrated pathway for expanding electric logistics in Buenos Aires.