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This chapter is a review and discussion of the experience of becoming an Electric Vehicle (EV) owner, with a focus on the importance of online EV communities on social media platforms in providing informal support to new owners during the transition into EV ownership and use.

Becoming an EV owner represents a significant disruption to drivers’ very established and comfortable driving practices. Electric cars force their owners to re-think long-habitual aspects of the driving experience, including driving behaviour, refuelling (practicalities and etiquette), route planning, and the extent of the car’s ‘sphere of access’.

Because of this disruption, new EV owners regularly encounter challenges, including charging, range, new technology, route planning, etiquette, and more. People often need support to overcome these challenges, and EV owner groups on social media are an important source of such support; new owners can receive advice on a range of issues. This chapter presents data extracted from EV owner social media group posts, analysing the discussions and advice that EV owners offer one another, and exploring the various forms of important support available to new owners/drivers.

This chapter shows how online EV communities are very actively used by EV owners and are of particular importance for new owners. These communities welcome new owners/drivers, offer support and advice, respond to questions, give recommendations, and encourage socialising and a form of group identity/bonding. With EV ownership rapidly increasing in many countries, online EV communities have a very important role to play in helping facilitate the international transition to electric mobility.

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.

This study aims to examine the perceived value of service digitalization in fine-dining restaurants in France. No study exists on this topic, and its aim is to address this research gap. To do so, a conceptual framework of the perceived benefits and costs of the service digitalization was developed. This study also provides actionable recommendations for fine-dining restaurant managers to create and manage an optimized fine-dining experience for their customers.

To obtain in-depth information, the authors opted for a qualitative research approach. The authors interviewed 24 fine-dining restaurant managers (listed in the Michelin Guide) and 29 customers of fine-dining restaurants using a video titled “The Restaurant of the Future.”

The findings underline the perceived benefits and costs of service digitalization for both restaurant managers and their customers. This study highlights that fine-dining restaurants are highly experience-centric compared to other types of restaurants and recommends which services should be digitalized and which should not be to create and manage experiences throughout the customer journey.

This research provides restaurants with actionable recommendations in terms of service digitalization to enhance customers’ fine-dining experiences.

This research fills a gap by proposing a conceptual framework to examine the digitalization of services in fine-dining restaurants.

The purpose of this paper is to explore self-management among informal tourism employees in urban China with the theoretical basis of Jianghu and reveal the forming process and operation mechanism of China’s urban informal organizations’ self-management.

This paper adopts process–event analysis of informal tourism photographers surrounding Guangzhou Tower. Conducting field inspection and in-depth interviews, the forming process is analyzed and typical events are captured to unveil this self-management mechanism.

The self-management of informal tourism employees in China is based on the Jianghu theory, which specifies the role, obligation and responsibility of a member. These above rely on word-of-mouth order or implicit ways to treat newcomers, realize internal communication and deal with public affairs. Brotherhood, benevolence and etiquette make up the core values of the Jianghu theory that advises strategies in dealing with different events. This self-management, based on the Jianghu theory, has not only effectively solved internal conflicts, but has also achieved the goal of social management.

Informal employees’ self-management is extremely important due to the high cost of government intervention. Through China’s urban informal tourism employees’ Jianghu-styled self-management, the paper shows that the government should not crack down on this group indiscriminately. Instead, it should, through the management agent, set up effective Jianghu rules to realize regular control over this group.

Too many American executives are clueless when it comes to business etiquette, and in today's global marketplace they pay a high price for their ignorance, maintains Letitia Baldrige, doyen of good manners. The former head of protocol in the Kennedy White House is acknowledged as a national authority on proper behavior. She now consults on business etiquette to major corporations, and is editor‐in‐chief of the Washington D.C.‐based monthly publication, Executive Advantage.

The Ambridge Flower and Produce Show is the source of frequent scandals. For example, the misunderstanding that resulted in Chutneygate in 2016 caused feelings to run high. However, there is also evidence of deliberate cheating. Toye (2009) records three confirmed instances between 1975 and 2008, two planned and one opportunist, along with a number of unproved allegations. According to Michaels and Miethe (1989, p. 883), ‘cheating is a general class of deviance that occurs in a variety of contexts’, whilst DeAndrea, Carpenter, Shulman, and Levine (2009) believe that it is now commonplace throughout society. Houser, Vetter, and Winter (2012, p. 1654) argue that ‘the perception of being treated unfairly by another person significantly increases an individual’s propensity to cheat’. Taken at face value, Flower and Produce Shows are charming, community-based events showcasing personal endeavour for little in the way of reward. However, both the Ambridge experience and the literature suggest that the competitive nature of the event aligned with the potential for perceived unfair treatment by the judges may mean that the likelihood of cheating is high. Given this, how representative is the Ambridge Flower and Produce Show of a real-life Flower and Produce Show? This chapter examines the emotions and behaviours that these shows engender by reviewing scholarly thinking on competition, competitive behaviour and cheating, and then comparing critical incidents at the fictional Ambridge show with evidence derived from interviews with the committee and contestants of the annual Flower and Produce Show in a small market town in Wiltshire.

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.

Prisons in Africa face unprecedented challenges during Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In July 2020, the first prison system case of COVID-19 was notified in Zimbabwe. Subsequently, the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services released their COVID-19 operational plan. The purpose of the study was to assess preparedness, prevention and control of COVID-19 in selected prisons in Zimbabwe.

A multi-method situation assessment of COVID-19 preparedness was conducted across three Zimbabwean prisons. The World Health Organization checklist to evaluate preparedness, prevention and control of COVID-19 in prisons was administered to frontline health managers. Information garnered was further explored during site observation and in multi-stakeholder key informant interviews with policymakers, prison health directorate, frontline health-care professionals, officers in charge and non-governmental organizations (n = 26); focus group discussions with correctional officers (n = 18); and male/female prisoners (n = 36). Data was triangulated and analyzed using content thematic analysis.

Outdated infrastructure, severe congestion, interrupted water supply and inadequate hygiene and sanitation were conducive to ill-health and spread of disease. Health professionals had been well-trained regarding COVID-19 disease control measures. COVID-19 awareness among prisoners was generally adequate. There was no routine COVID-19 testing in place, beyond thermo scanning. Access to health care was good, but standards were hindered by inadequate medicines and personnel protective equipment supply. Isolation measures were compromised by accommodation capacity issues. Flow of prison entries constituted a transmission risk. Social distancing was impossible during meals and at night.

This unique situation assessment of Zimbabwean prisons’ preparedness and approach to tackling COVID-19 acknowledges state and prison efforts to protect prisoners and staff, despite infrastructural constraints and inadequate resourcing from government.