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Electric cars represent the most energy efficient technical option available for passenger cars, compared to conventional combustion engine cars and vehicles based on fuel cells. However, this requires an efficient charging infrastructure and low carbon electricity production as well. Combustion engine cars which were converted to electric cars decreased lifecycle CO₂-equivalent emissions per passenger-km travelled down to one third of before, when powered by green electricity. However, through an analysis of 78 scientific reports published since 2010 for life cycle impacts from 18 aggregated impact categories, this chapter finds that the results are mixed. Taken together, however, the reduced environmental impacts of electric cars appear advantageous over combustion engine cars, with further room for improvement as impacts generated during the production phase are addressed. When it comes to battery components, Cobalt (Co) stands out as critical. Assessing the impact of electric cars on the local air quality, they are not ‘zero emission vehicles’. They emit fine dust due to tyre and brake abrasion and to dust resuspension from the street. These remaining emissions could be easily removed by adding an active filtration system to the undercarriage of electric vehicles. If electric cars are operated with electricity from fossil power plants nearby, the emissions of these plants need to be modelled with respect to possibly worsening the local air quality.

Collaboration and acquisition have traditionally been observed as two alternative strategies when accessing external technologies. However, real option scholars have recently argued that firms can also engage in transitional technology sourcing trajectories where collaboration and acquisition are used as complementary strategies. While these real option scholars have identified factors that influence when partners are likely to shift from collaboration to acquisition, they remain silent on how such a transition can be effectively managed. Based on a multiple case study of four transitional technology sourcing trajectories between one new entrepreneurial and one established firm, this study therefore explores how the pre-acquisition collaboration stage and the post-acquisition integration are related to each other. Findings suggest that entrepreneurial companies may use the pre-acquisition collaboration stage as a period to evaluate the goodwill of the established partner. In addition, we point to the presence of pre-acquisition integration efforts and the extent of strategic convergence during the pre-acquisition collaboration stage as factors that substantially influence the success of the post-acquisition integration process in transitional governance trajectories.

Observations worldwide suggest that climate heating has moved from the stage of being a conceptual future threat to being widely recognisable as having a tangible and present impact in the 2020s. The promotion of the electric car, as a key feature of the wider electrification of mobility, is one of the key policy initiatives seeking to reduce climate change emissions from the transport sector, particularly in the wealthier, more car-dependent states globally. Such developments led the International Energy Agency to question, in 2020, whether we had entered the decade of “electric drive” (IEA, 2020). However, electric motive power is not new. Electric cars have been around for longer than the internal combustion engine (ICE). The century-long dominance of the latter is explained by a number of advantages and contextual factors. In the 2020s, whilst some of the barriers to EV adoption have reduced, others, notably battery energy density and cost to the consumer, remain. And the consequences of the transition to electric cars will be felt not solely in respect of greenhouse gas emissions, but will affect economic production, the relative demand for resources and human skills, social and technical practices, travel behaviour, and the extent to which all citizens are included in/excluded from mobility systems, and hence wider society.

The present chapter introduces the principal themes of the book, outlining the narrative through its 4 parts and 11 subsequent chapters. In doing so, it underlines the importance of the transition from the internal combustion engine to the electric motor as not simply a technical substitution, but a potential revolution that could radically change the economy, society, and hopefully the environment, for the better. Now is an important moment to be charting and examining the rise of the electric car and exploring whether it represents a step towards more sustainable mobility.

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.

Sustainable innovation is not only about the design of radical “green” technologies, it is also about generating social and institutional support that complement and reinforce the adoption and diffusion of these technologies at large. Hence, treating the ecologically hazardous nature of the prevalent technologies alone is insufficient without complementary social change. Building on a longitudinal study of sustainable innovation in the car industry, we argue that the prevailing discourse that is centered on the creation of business value is unlikely to facilitate the widespread adoption of sustainable technologies. Furthermore, taking into consideration the sociomateriality of sustainable innovation, we rather suggest that a focus on creating social value is indispensable for triggering the desired change toward sustainable value. Following the analysis of sustainable innovation in the car industry, we generate two relevant insights for sustainable value. First, our results demonstrate the path-dependent nature of sustainable innovation, which is constrained and sustained by the materiality, social structures, and institutional frameworks that comprise the overall sociotechnical system in which innovation takes place. Second, our findings show that a successful diffusion of radical sustainable innovation requires both technological innovation and complementary social changes that together can disrupt the existing evolutionary path of technology and construct more sustainable alternatives. All in all, we argue that reframing the discourse around social value in lieu of monetary value can be leveraged by organizations for shaping alternative courses of action, creating innovative technologies, and developing novel practices that create sustainable value for all stakeholders in society.

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.