Josef Taalbi
Senior lecturer
The role of energy infrastructure in shaping early adoption of electric and gasoline cars
Author
Summary, in English
Electric vehicles have a potential to lower greenhouse gas emissions but still face challenges. This study asks what can be learned from the US automobile history. In 1900, there were three equal contenders in the US automotive industry: gasoline, electric and steam cars. Only a decade later, the gasoline car had achieved a crushing dominance. This dominance is often attributed to techno-economic factors, such as an innate inferiority of electric cars. Meanwhile, the role of the infrastructures is not well understood. This study presents evidence on the mechanisms behind the rise of gasoline vehicles, using a database of more than 36,000 passenger car models. We estimated econometric models to explain the technology choice of car producers, which show that the slow expansion of electricity infrastructure had a key impact. We estimate that a 15 or 20 year earlier diffusion of electricity grids would have tipped the balance in favour of electric vehicles, most notably in metropolitan areas. In the context of the current climate crisis, the results support the notion that large-scale investment in infrastructure is critical to achieve sustainable socio-technological transitions.
Department/s
- Sustainability transformations over time and space
- Department of Economic History
Publishing year
2021
Language
English
Pages
970-976
Publication/Series
Nature Energy
Volume
6
Issue
10
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Topic
- Energy Systems
- Economic History
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 2058-7546