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The materials and energy density of current electric vehicles (EV) battery technology means that the vehicles are heavier and have a shorter range in comparison to internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV). Battery cost also means EVs are relatively expensive for the consumer, even with government incentives, and dependent on sometimes-rare resources being available. These factors also limit the applicability of battery-electric technologies to heavy-duty vehicles. However, a number of next generation technologies are under laboratory development which could radically change this situation. Using a follow-the-money methodology, the strategic innovations of companies and public institutions are examined. The chapter will review the potential for changes in resource inputs, higher-density batteries and cost reductions, considering options such as lithium-air, metal-air and solid-state technologies. The innovations outlined in these technologies are considered from an economic perspective, identifying their advantages and disadvantages in commercialisation. At the same time, innovations, and investments in infrastructure electrification (Electric Road Service) and battery exchange point with swapping technology will be also considered due their implications and contribution to solving battery-related challenges and shortcomings. It is concluded that only a joint investment in effort on technologies would allow the use of EVs to be extended to a broad public in terms both of users and geography.

Purpose – Electric vehicles are very topical in developed countries. The breakthrough of new battery technologies and changing conditions driven by climate policy and growing fossil fuel prices has caused all major car manufacturing countries in the developed world to initiate R&D programmes to gain competitive advantage and to foster market diffusion of electric vehicles (EVs). This chapter looks at developments in China and compares them with observations from developed countries to draw conclusions about differences in their future paths of development.

Methodology – This chapter escribes the potentials and R&D approaches for different types of EVs in developing countries, using China as example, in comparison with developed countries. It looks at innovation strategies, policy framework and potential diffusion of EVs.

Findings – Market diffusion strategies in developed countries and China may differ, since, in the former manufacturers try to implement a premium strategy (i.e. offer high-price sophisticated EVs), while in the latter market, diffusion will probably appear at the lower end of vehicle types, i.e. via electric scooters and small urban vehicles. It is concluded that the market introduction strategies of EVs in developing countries and developed countries could converge because signs of downsizing of vehicles can be observed in the developed world, while upscaling from bikes and electric scooters can be expected for China, so that large-scale market introduction could occur via small city cars.

Implications for China – Instead of following the Western motorisation path, an option for China could be to develop a new one-stop-shop mobility concept integrating small EVs into such a concept.

After three decades of development, the Chinese electric vehicle industry became the world’s largest electric vehicle market in 2015. However, little is understood about how the Chinese electric vehicle industry, as a latecomer in this strategic newly emerged industry, could catch up with international incumbents. The purpose of this paper is to study how the windows of opportunity emerge and interactively influence the catch-up process of Chinese electric vehicle industry.

This paper conducted a case study to examine how Chinese electric vehicle latecomers use the windows of opportunity along with the development of a sectoral system of innovation to reduce the gaps.

The results indicate that windows of opportunity appeared in the introduction stage (2005) and the transition from the introduction stage to the growth stage (2015) because of the sectoral changes in technologies, demand, policies and the interaction among these factors. Domestic electric vehicle latecomers currently follow the catch-up pattern of duplication, creative imitation and innovation.

To capture the previous windows of opportunity, domestic electric vehicle latecomers rely on technology transfer through international joint ventures, government support and local advantages from cheap labor. To seize future windows of opportunity, apart from progressively accumulating innovation capabilities, it is also essential for managers to recognize, break through and extend the windows of opportunity by anticipating and monitoring the process of changes of the sectoral system.

This paper provides a fine-grained study on how latecomers in a new industry with emerging markets can seize windows of opportunities to catch up with the international leaders.

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 Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI) is a multi-government policy forum devoted to speed up the introduction and adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) worldwide. EVI key themes for sustainable development include energy-efficient transportation with e-mobility (drive-by science and technology), reduced greenhouse gas emissions, decreased oil dependence and improved local air quality. India's transport sector contributes around 142 million tons of CO₂ every year, with road transport contributing 123 million tons.

Review methodology forms a basis for knowledge development, creating guidelines for policy and practice. Quality assessment of review articles is by using mixed methods appraisal tool (MMAT).

The research trends on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) technological and social aspects highlight the critical role of technology in economic and social development, emphasising infrastructure development and communication of government policy and rewards for awareness and end-user acceptance.

The scenario brings a school of thought if it is equally important to address a social perspective to improve India's perception and acceptance of technology-enabled EVs.

Nowadays, the increase in the capacity of batteries has laid the foundations for a broader diffusion of electric mobility. However, electric mobility is causing a growing electricity demand as well as the need to increase the diffusion of suitable charging stations. Within these last challenges, drawing on the recent literature, this chapter provides a critical and wide-ranging review of papers dealing with the formulation of the problem of the localisation of electric vehicle (EV) charging points. This problem is approached considering the electric charging infrastructure technologies, localisation criteria and related methodologies. This review shows how the ‘electric mobility revolution’ applies the technological innovations provided by the energy supply systems, and the location of these systems within the urban contexts. Since the technological innovations have different options, achieving an international standard of charging systems is still far away. Moreover, as there are several criteria, parameters and methodologies, and some analytical approaches for the localisation of electric vehicle charging points, the formulation of the ‘localisation’ problem should require the application of multi-criteria analysis to be addressed. Finally, the results show that there is no consensus on technologies, criteria, and methodologies to be adopted. Therefore, this wide-ranging analysis of the literature would be useful to support possible benchmarking and systematisation accordingly.

The electric vehicle has been viewed as a technological solution to the dual plagues of dwindling fossil fuel supplies and pollutant emissions from gasoline powered vehicles. Futurists see a world where most personal transportation is electrically powered with energy supplied by tomorrow's power plants. In that future world, automobile power sources — representing millions of uncontrollable sources of pollution and energy waste — are consolidated into fewer, manageable, generators in fixed locations. With fixed and relatively few sources of pollution, resources can be better focused to provide clean, inexpensive energy for transportation. Many people share this vision of the future but few have been able to see how it can be brought into existence. Initial attempts have focused on legislation to stimulate the development of this market. As with any new technology, the electric vehicle field has developed its own terminology. For purposes of clarity throughout mis paper please bear in mind the following definitions.

This paper aims to address the broad question of how organizations capture value from foresight exercises. Through a comparative case analysis, this paper looks at what firms do to make the information usable and create value. It explores factors that cause different firms to respond differently to the same trends. It analyzes the passenger car segment of the automobile industry and the response of six major firms to fossil fuel and changing environmental regulations through an analysis of their policies and strategic activities, such as new product development. It finds foresight to be an important link between firm capabilities and environmental changes.

This paper adopts the case approach to capture the linkage between the issue and the context (Yin, 1994) and uses multiple cases to explore the variables by comparing and contrasting the cases on key aspects (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007). As the paper ' s objective is to understand the similarities and differences between dominant firms in the sector, it chooses through theoretical sampling, six firms that have a presence in all the major regions of the world – two each from the USA, Europe and Japan – Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Renault, Toyota and Honda. This sample represents the firms and regions traditionally strong in the passenger car industry.

Thus, it is seen that the relationship that was posited in the conceptual model between the goal of the firms, the vision of the future and the nature of products and approach to technology/competence development seems to be valid. However, in addition, the paper perceives that some additional linkages that link between foresight and the goals and vision of the future seem to be influenced by the extent of uncertainty. In addition, the decisions regarding portfolio of products and approaches to technology and competence development seem to be also influenced by the perception of existing competencies and the external competitive context.

This paper was based on multiple cases created out of secondary information, hence the constructs used are those which are perceived and stated.

The paper could help firms understand decisions related to technology choices in field involving high levels of uncertainty and competition.

This paper could improve learning processes from foresight exercises, and enable strategic decisions to be taken on these.

Thus, this paper has explored the linkages between what firms perceive and state, and what is reflected in their actions. It has looked at this linkage from the perspective of foresight, and the strategic perspective of the firm. It has come up with additional issues and questions that influence this relationship. These can inform future research in this domain.

The use of electric vehicles has received popularity as alternative fuel vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy cost, which are expected to perform a crucial role in the near future of emerging mobility markets. The purpose of this empirical study is to analyse the role of electric vehicle knowledge in predicting consumer adoption intention directly and indirectly in the backdrop of an emerging market.

The study approached an extended version of “Technology acceptance model” (TAM) based on the integrated framework of “knowledge-beliefs-intention”. The model was tested via direct and indirect path analyses with the data collected from Indian respondents using an online survey.

The results indicate the robustness of the present research model, which shows that consumer adoption is significantly driven by electric vehicle knowledge, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived risk. Electric vehicle knowledge has emerged as the most powerful cognitive measure, which directly affects the adoption intention along with the measures of “TAM”. Additionally, this also poses a higher indirect effect on adoption intention in the integrated model.

The study has focused on potential young and educated consumers, which may not be warranted to generalise the research findings, while youth or millennials are more receptive to adopt innovative and clean technology products like electric vehicle. Based on the findings, implications are offered for encouraging electric vehicles in the backdrop of emerging automobile markets.

Concerning this cognitive phenomenon of knowledge, scant literature has been explored the role of subjective knowledge in consumer adoption for electric vehicles, particularly in the emerging markets like India. Thus, the present study analyses how consumers' knowledge about electric vehicle affects their decision to adopt this in the near future of Indian zero-emission mobility market.

The case study has been prepared for management students/business executives to understand electric vehicle (EV) business, business environment, industry competition and strategic planning and strategy implementation.

The size of the Indian passenger vehicle market was valued at US$32.70bn in 2021; it was projected to touch US$54.84bn by 2027 with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of more than 9% during the period 2022–2027. The passenger vehicle industry, a part of the overall automotive industry, was expected to grow at a rapid pace, as the Indian economy was rising at the fastest rate. However, the Government of India (GoI) had put a condition on the growth scenario by mandating that 100% of vehicles produced would be EVs by 2030. Tata Motors (TaMo), a domestic player in the market, had been facing a challenging competitive environment. Although it had been incurring losses, it had successfully ventured into the EV business. TaMo had taken advantage of the first mover by creating an electric mobility business vertical to enable the company to deliver on its aspiration of providing innovative and competitive e-mobility solutions. TaMo leadership had been putting efforts to scale up the electric mobility business, thus, contributing to GoI’s plan for electric mobility. Shailesh Chandra, president of electric mobility business, had a big task in hand. He had to scale up EV production and sales despite insufficient infrastructure for charging and shortages of electronic components for manufacturing.

The case study has been prepared for management students/business executives for strategic management class. It is recommended that the case study is distributed in advance so that the students can prepare well in advance for classroom discussions. Groups will be created to delve into details for a specific question. While one group will make their presentation, the other groups will question the solution provided and give suggestions.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.