80
The Nordic region is thus a clear-cut example of where the transition to
electric mobility is underway. For example, the International Energy
Agency (2018) notes that across the five Nordic countries, the total stock
of EVs reached 250,000 cars at the end of 2017 and accounted for 8% of
the global total, the third-largest share after China and the United States.
The per capita diffusion of EVs across the Nordic region is highest in the
world at 10.6%; the growth rate the highest in the world (up 57% from the
previous year); and Norway in particular features a 39% market share of
electric cars sales.
7.3 contests over faIrness, PartIcIPatIon,
envIronmental governance, and vulnerabIlIty
However, even though the Nordic transition is underway, it has not been
without its crises and contestations. Drawing from the empirical data from
the NV2G project presented in Sovacool et al. (2019), this section explores
these four challenges: inequitable access to EVs, exclusion and elitism in
national planning, the creation of global externalities, and the worsening
of some social vulnerabilities.
By far the most frequently mentioned injustice attribute across the
entire sample of interview statements was that access to electric mobility
technologies are not distributed evenly across Nordic society. As one
respondent put it succinctly:
The most common EV in the Nordic Region is a Tesla. That’s only for rich
people and companies. It is not a mainstream car, it is not for everyone. It is a
beautiful car, cool to have. But almost nobody can afford to.
Another was more elaborate in their reflection and highlighted the
equity and justice challenge with electric mobility:
Tesla owners in Norway on average have a quite high income. The Tesla is not
their only car, they can have it as maybe their second or third or fourth or fifth
car. It’s the wealthy getting in front of the common people so they can just pass
them in the queue in the morning, and that’s irritating … A recent newspaper
found that the typical, single Tesla Model X owner received subsidies in 2016
worth the same amount you can hand out to provide 30,000 trips on the buses
and the subway system of Oslo.
B. SOVACOOL
The Nordic region is thus a clear-cut example of where the transition to
electric mobility is underway. For example, the International Energy
Agency (2018) notes that across the five Nordic countries, the total stock
of EVs reached 250,000 cars at the end of 2017 and accounted for 8% of
the global total, the third-largest share after China and the United States.
The per capita diffusion of EVs across the Nordic region is highest in the
world at 10.6%; the growth rate the highest in the world (up 57% from the
previous year); and Norway in particular features a 39% market share of
electric cars sales.
7.3 contests over faIrness, PartIcIPatIon,
envIronmental governance, and vulnerabIlIty
However, even though the Nordic transition is underway, it has not been
without its crises and contestations. Drawing from the empirical data from
the NV2G project presented in Sovacool et al. (2019), this section explores
these four challenges: inequitable access to EVs, exclusion and elitism in
national planning, the creation of global externalities, and the worsening
of some social vulnerabilities.
By far the most frequently mentioned injustice attribute across the
entire sample of interview statements was that access to electric mobility
technologies are not distributed evenly across Nordic society. As one
respondent put it succinctly:
The most common EV in the Nordic Region is a Tesla. That’s only for rich
people and companies. It is not a mainstream car, it is not for everyone. It is a
beautiful car, cool to have. But almost nobody can afford to.
Another was more elaborate in their reflection and highlighted the
equity and justice challenge with electric mobility:
Tesla owners in Norway on average have a quite high income. The Tesla is not
their only car, they can have it as maybe their second or third or fourth or fifth
car. It’s the wealthy getting in front of the common people so they can just pass
them in the queue in the morning, and that’s irritating … A recent newspaper
found that the typical, single Tesla Model X owner received subsidies in 2016
worth the same amount you can hand out to provide 30,000 trips on the buses
and the subway system of Oslo.
B. SOVACOOL