Integrating Vehicle Selection and Local Technical Capability in Low-Technology Development Contexts

Lightweight electric vehicles are increasingly proposed for low-emission logistics, municipal services and decentralised transport tasks. However, their suitability in resource- and technology-constrained development contexts cannot be assessed through vehicle specifications alone. Payload, motor power, range and acquisition cost do not indicate whether a system can be inspected, repaired, charged, documented, supplied, adapted and sustained under local conditions. This article develops an AHP-based socio-technical framework for early-stage selection of modular lightweight electric mobility architectures. The framework evaluates vehicle architecture before propulsion, wheel configuration and project-specific implementation details, linking engineering boundary calculations with criteria for modular maintainability, repairability, supplier independence, documentation and local technical capability. The O-Waste pilot with the Mbolo Association in The Gambia provides the field-informed implementation context for the study, while the proposed framework remains transferable beyond one route, container arrangement or waste quantity. Vehicle selection is treated as a socio-technical engineering decision in which mechanical adequacy and local technical continuity must be considered together. The contribution is a structured decision pathway and circular capability system for identifying lightweight electric mobility configurations that can remain technically appropriate, locally understandable, repairable, supplied and supportable over time.