83
accidents and traffic congestion, given that vehicles and e-bikes can still
promote an automobility paradigm that transportation should be private,
rather than public, and motorised rather than human-powered.
A final area of contestation relates to vulnerability, especially jobs (notably small and independent fuel providers and maintenance firms) and
impacts on rural residents. In the Nordic region, many petrol and fuel
stations would need to instal electric charging infrastructure, a prohibitively costly endeavour. Automotive dealerships and maintenance firms
would also see a potentially large loss of revenue, as well as those selling
alternatives to electric vehicles such as small-scale biofuel or hydrogen
companies, a growing industrial segment at least in Denmark. Within
Nordic automotive dealerships specifically, Zarazua de Rubens et al.
(2018) found that salespersons generally articulate that EVs take a longer
time to sell, take more effort to sell, and result in less revenue for maintenance—which can all result in negative impacts on profitability for automotive companies and dealerships, and consequently jobs, in the
short term.
7.4 legItImatIng or challengIng automobIlIty?
A deeper concern, separate from contests and challenges to accountability
or equality, concerns whether EVs are in fact a radical, transformative
innovation that challenges automobility, or an incremental, supportive
innovation that only further entrenches it. In Table 7.2, for example, we
show all of the positive and negative synergies electric mobility can have
with sustainability. As that table highlights, electric mobility can potentially displace large amounts of carbon for passenger vehicles and even
fleets, but also run the risk of further embedding motorised, private automobility as well as increased driving. Graham-Rowe et al. (2012) note for
example that because adopters perceived their EVs to be more
“environmentally- friendly,” they drove them 1.64 times further than cars
they did not see as “eco-cars.” Some drivers even attempted to recharge
their vehicles not by plugging in at home or at work, but by running the
internal combustion engine and then using the re-generative braking system to “charge” their vehicle—“thereby negating the carbon savings”
(Graham-Rowe et al. 2012: 148). This underscores that EVs can entrench
automobility without necessarily decarbonising.
Part of this tension stems from the material, discursive and cultural elements that re-perform the core elements of the automobility regime. On
7 GOVERNANCE AND LEGITIMATION IN THE TRANSITION TO NORDIC…
accidents and traffic congestion, given that vehicles and e-bikes can still
promote an automobility paradigm that transportation should be private,
rather than public, and motorised rather than human-powered.
A final area of contestation relates to vulnerability, especially jobs (notably small and independent fuel providers and maintenance firms) and
impacts on rural residents. In the Nordic region, many petrol and fuel
stations would need to instal electric charging infrastructure, a prohibitively costly endeavour. Automotive dealerships and maintenance firms
would also see a potentially large loss of revenue, as well as those selling
alternatives to electric vehicles such as small-scale biofuel or hydrogen
companies, a growing industrial segment at least in Denmark. Within
Nordic automotive dealerships specifically, Zarazua de Rubens et al.
(2018) found that salespersons generally articulate that EVs take a longer
time to sell, take more effort to sell, and result in less revenue for maintenance—which can all result in negative impacts on profitability for automotive companies and dealerships, and consequently jobs, in the
short term.
7.4 legItImatIng or challengIng automobIlIty?
A deeper concern, separate from contests and challenges to accountability
or equality, concerns whether EVs are in fact a radical, transformative
innovation that challenges automobility, or an incremental, supportive
innovation that only further entrenches it. In Table 7.2, for example, we
show all of the positive and negative synergies electric mobility can have
with sustainability. As that table highlights, electric mobility can potentially displace large amounts of carbon for passenger vehicles and even
fleets, but also run the risk of further embedding motorised, private automobility as well as increased driving. Graham-Rowe et al. (2012) note for
example that because adopters perceived their EVs to be more
“environmentally- friendly,” they drove them 1.64 times further than cars
they did not see as “eco-cars.” Some drivers even attempted to recharge
their vehicles not by plugging in at home or at work, but by running the
internal combustion engine and then using the re-generative braking system to “charge” their vehicle—“thereby negating the carbon savings”
(Graham-Rowe et al. 2012: 148). This underscores that EVs can entrench
automobility without necessarily decarbonising.
Part of this tension stems from the material, discursive and cultural elements that re-perform the core elements of the automobility regime. On
7 GOVERNANCE AND LEGITIMATION IN THE TRANSITION TO NORDIC…