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This chapter explains how electric driving has been transforming car mobility in The Netherlands since 1990, highlighting the role of a specific Dutch policy mix as direct factor, and the conditions through which this policy mix came about as indirect factors. The analysis is based on triangulation of findings from three methods: (1) discourse analysis of national newspapers and online blogs to understand the changing meanings of car mobility as well as changing stakeholder competences; (2) interview analysis with Dutch stakeholders to understand policy effects as well as their changing competences; and (3) analysis of relevant documents that provide the numbers of vehicles sold, implemented infrastructures and policy instruments. The study describes market changes in terms of ‘reconfiguring’ (entangled) practices of Dutch motorists, vehicle manufacturers and policy-makers, constituted by the (changing) relations between meanings, materialities, competences and policy incentives. The analysis finds a gradual reconfiguration of car mobility in three stages: The hegemony of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) mobility (1990–2008), Surge in Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) mobility (2009–2015), and Surge in full-electric mobility (2016–2020). The analysis shows that the specific Dutch policy incentives were critical to orchestrating the co-evolution of ICE-based and electric mobility towards low-carbon alternatives, that is, towards more electrification. The policy mix was adapted in three successive steps, in which inconsistencies towards electric mobility (e-mobility) were solved, entailing three distinct reconfiguration pathways in each period. The relatively strong policy incentives for e-mobility in The Netherlands can be explained by the absence of an established car industry as well as particular air quality challenges in cities (triggering local support for the provision of charging infrastructure). The conclusion includes policy recommendations for countries that seek to promote e-mobility, although further research should clarify how contextual differences require specific elements in the policy mix.

New mobility services, referred to here as car sharing services with electric vehicles fuelled by renewable energies, could serve as an essential part of energy and climate strategies to lessen the impact of transport. However operating a car sharing scheme with electric vehicles is more expensive and offers users less autonomy than car sharing powered by internal combustion engines. Thus municipalities and operators need to answer one critical question: how to identify and address target groups to make the scheme successful?

We focus on user requirements and attitudes towards services that integrate electric vehicles and public transport. Firstly we argue, based on an extensive literature analysis, that attitude-based market segmentation is crucial for a successful implementation of integrated e-mobility services. In the literature review we compare 23 empirical studies that employ a segmentation approach concerning their content and methodologies. Secondly, we address this need by presenting a methodology to derive attitude-based mobility typologies developed during a two-year field trial of an e-car sharing service in Berlin (Germany).

We share results from a representative market segmentation survey in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich (n = 2,400). Among the six clusters, six attitude-based mobility typologies, we separated three groups specifically inclined to use mobility services: ‘the innovative technology-loving multioptionals’ (20% of the sample), ‘flexible car-lovers’ (21%) and ‘the ecological bicycle and Public Transit-lovers’ (17%).

Attitude-based approaches like the one used in this study could support the development of integrated mobility services by adding the view of a specific target group. A range of approaches exist which use different kinds of item batteries to measure mobility related attitudes with the aim to develop target group specific services.

This study will provide essential information for the development of policies and interventions in support of new mobility services.

The tourism and hospitality sector in twenty-first century becomes technology driven. Technology application in those sectors is strategic and demand driven. It facilitates tourism and hospitality marketing; destination promotion and imaging makes the services innovative, turns the interaction between industry and its consumers better than ever before, and enables the industry to cope with neo-competitive environment. Changes occur too in tourists’ demand, choices, and consumption patterns with the advent of e-mobility. Thus shifts within the paradigm of tourism and hospitality practices are perceived overtly. This chapter will study the expanse of technology application within those sectors, endeavour to develop a conceptual frame; and review the shifts and impacts that appear out of technology and those sectors interactions.

Make a contribution on company business models and typical reactions to economic crises.

Media-analysis-based case study.

Crisis is handled through drawing on a strategy deriving from the typical features of the company; through the crisis these features are even intensified.

Multinational companies are complex and only transparent to a small degree; the empirical data therefore rests on a database with articles.

Social implications can be seen at the BMW as a functioning example for social partnership as a form of economic embeddedness at the societal level.

Despite efforts to reduce environmental pollution and wasteful fossil fuel use, electric vehicles (EVs) are still rare on the road. Why is it so challenging to get widespread EV adoption? One significant factor on which it heavily depends is one's awareness and understanding of EVs. However, due to an absolute lack of knowledge on the part of the populace, this factor becomes a huge impediment to the uptake of EVs. A systematic review of the electronic database Scopus for the years 2003–2022 was carried out on ‘EV awareness and adoption of EV’ while considering the ‘Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis’ (PRISMA) standards. A three-step identification process resulted in the ultimate detection of 41 papers, which were then thoroughly examined. A conceptual framework that encompasses the three key awareness aspects that influence EV adoption is developed. To encourage greater uniformity among EV researchers, this study's conclusions serve as a foundation for operationalising upcoming research efforts within a predetermined framework. The authors must therefore be optimistic that lingering technological, legislative, cultural, behavioural and business-model barriers may be overcome over time through widespread dissemination of knowledge and awareness related to EVs, making it possible for everyone to switch to greener, more economical and more efficient transportation solutions.

The chapter draws on the key findings from across the previous chapters in this book with a view to reaching a synthesis which responds to the key question that motivated the book: ‘to what extent does a shift to electric automobility suggest a sustainable future for the passenger car?’ Across the chapters is found evidence for a clear and apparently unstoppable transition to electric mobility, but this does not mean it is harmonious and smooth; the transition itself faces potential disruption, as well as being disruptive to the status quo through creating new forms of conflict over space and material resources. Nonetheless, meanwhile internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) sales continue to exceed electric vehicle (EV) sales, even if the margin reduces, and there is the enormous problem of inertia presented by the established global ICEV fleet.

Considering the current dynamics of consumer demand for electric cars, a complex set of factors and preferences have been shown to have influence, but the interrelated factors of range and total cost of ownership stand out as the key ones. Prospects for accelerating the rate of transition are identified, but a further important dynamic is the slow rate of turnover in an established vehicle fleet dominated by ICEs: consideration is therefore given to the potential for retrofit EV conversions.

Looking to the future, the cost and performance of battery technology remains a critical and uncertain factor in the rate and depth of the transition to EVs, but the wider context of mobility practices and policies in which that change occurs is also fundamental. The EV transition sits entwined with other novel and substantial changes to our long-established systems of automobility that are becoming visible on the horizon. Relatively expensive to buy but cheap to use, and also hard to tax, EVs will necessitate a shift away from pay-up-front to pay-as-you-go road use, while the development and full realisation of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) systems could herald a fundamental change in the basis of owning and using cars. In conclusion, a sustainable future for the car implies not just a new way of powering it, but a different role for the car in both the economy and society.